Marketing Zone’s Mark Ganellin spent the day judging entries in the Lion Heart youth business challenge held at Hackney Town Hall this week.
The Lion Heart Challenge is a national enterprise programme, acclaimed by Sir Howard Davies MBE, former Director of The London School of Economics & Political Science. School pupils undertake a one-day business challenge in competition with other teams. For the regional final, twenty teams were tasked with a real-world brief from the Essex Police Commissioner – to design a product or service that would prevent vulnerable people from becoming victims of crime.
By taking part in the challenge young people learn about the essential business disciplines of Marketing, Finance, Human Resources and Product Design. And they develop general problem solving and team-working skills too. Commenting on the day, Mark said, “I’m really pleased to support this initiative. It’s great to see young people grasp the essentials of business and see the possibilities that great marketing can bring. Some of the ideas have been very thought-provoking and the enthusiasm of the students is infectious!”
Mark was invited to join the judging panel due to his marketing know-how and experience as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. His role was to assess the marketing plans put forward by the teams.
At the end of an action packed day, Maggie Jones, Head of CIM Networks, UK and Ireland, for the Chartered Institute of Marketing, announced winning teams, who are going through to the national final.