FEO NxGen Master Class Day - Sirius Academy North

Last Friday (10th September) a select group of Year 11 students at Sirius Academy North spent the day learning about entrepreneurship through FEO’s excellent NXGen programme. For those of you that are not aware:-

This amazing Masterclass revolves around a group of FEO members spending the day in school working with the students - not only is this masterclass COMPLETELY free of charge, but these business people all donate their time freely as well! We were lucky enough to have the…

• Wonderful and colourful Milly Rose (an artist who has set up and now runs several businesses involving large scale murals, portrait commissions, face painting and pre-loved clothing) who truly inspired the students with her story and gave very practical advice.
• Inspiring and down-to-earth David Hall (who is very passionate about start-up business & over the last 10 years has set up seven manufacturing business from scratch. He started as a cabinet makers apprentice and now at the age of 37 owns four manufacturing businesses, employing a total of 35 people) who resonated with our students extremely well due to his age and stories about his school days.
• Dynamic Graeme Pittaway (who has five years’ experience in a strategic role with a 4th generation business; Contract and Project Management on multi-client and projects basis; extensive experience working with public sector and getting on select tenderer lists; early adapter of business improvement tools with the painting industry and who takes a very active role in developing future talent/apprentices) who led the day brilliantly and helped the students feel very comfortable and at ease with everyone.
• And finally – the affable and inspiring Steve Hoey The Inclusion Bridge CIC whose company we use a lot at Sirius Academy North for various Mental Health and CV Workshops and who always works brilliantly with our students.

A very informal and laid back day saw students split into groups to work on a business idea - the day is broken down into inspirational and helpful talks from the FEO Members on matters such as marketing, money, people and attitudeas well as Entrepreneurial talks where one or more of the members share their story. The rest of their time is spent personally helping all the students work on their business model to present to everyone at the end of the day. The students presentations are judged (Dragon’s Den style) with the three top teams being awarded prizes and certificates.

A truly inspiring, eventful and worthwhile day for all involved. I would highly recommend this FEO NXGEN masterclass to any school.