The Apprentice hits East London
6 September 2012
Last month, two teams fought it out to sell their products and make a profit in the hard hitting world of business in a challenge Sir Alan Sugar would have been proud of. But this was an Apprentice challenge with a difference - the teams were made up of local young people from the Centre's youth employment project, Capital Talent, with a budget of only £50 to spend.
Each team was given the responsibility of coming up with ideas based on their market research in order to create a product to be sold at Spitalfields Market. The girls' team got in touch with their creative side and decorated mehndi candles and greeting cards whilst the boys' team sourced wooden trains and created Japanese inspired graphics.
"The Spitalfields challenge was an interesting experience for me to work within a group and share ideas for what we can sell. As a group we went on a day to Spitalfields to see what other stall holders are selling and what their highest and lowest price were. It was good to see what other stall holders sold and how we can up our competition. As a group we came up with candles and looked at how we can make candles look interesting. It was boys against girls and the stressing bit of the challenge was getting the candles made on time and trying to get it to look good for it to sell." Capital Talent Participant
The teams enjoyed putting into practice the team building and customer service skills developed throughout the five week Capital Talent programme and the unique opportunity to sharpen their business skills.
"On the day, the girls and boys were really getting competitive when selling goods. I had to go up to people and get them to at least buy something or at least look at our stall. When I first started off I scared off a customer but learned how to persuade them into getting them to buy something!" Capital Talent Participant
After a long day at Spitalfields Market both teams were declared the winners!
If you would like to find out more about the Capital Talent programme contact Tai or Fatma on: 020 8980 0041 or email: employment@bbbc.org.uk. You can download a flyer here.
