Young Entrepreneurs from across Perthshire Attend Finals of Morrison’s Academy’s Inaugural Enterprise Challenge

Morrison’s Academy, Perthshire’s leading independent day school, held the Grand Finals of its inaugural Enterprise Challenge last week (Thursday, 30 May, 2024) and around 40 finalists from schools across the region visited the Crieff campus to take part in the event.

As part of the new business initiative, P7 pupils from St Dominic's R.C. Primary School, Dunning Primary School, Kilgraston School, Dunblane Primary School and Morrison’s Academy produced their own perfume or aftershave brand. Using natural ingredients to make the fragrance, the youngsters were asked to consider every phase of their product’s life from bottling and packaging to branding, marketing and presenting it as a business venture.

A series of tailored lesson plans developed by the Morrison’s Academy Business Department were given to each participating school and delivered to more than 300 pupils by class teachers over the course of the summer term.

During the Grand Final, the 39 finalists were given the ingredients to make their fragrances and heard from a selection of speakers, including Rupinder Drew from the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, with tips and advice on fine-tuning their scents. They later pitched their business ideas to a panel of judges in front of their peers and families. While the standard of competition was incredibly high, pupils from Dunblane Primary School took the winning trophy home for their product 2 Faced.

Mr Craig Roy, Head of Business & Enterprise at Morrison’s Academy, who created the Primary School Enterprise Challenge, said: “I’d like to congratulate our finalists for their creativity, innovation and teamwork - they all worked incredibly hard and the standard of presentations given last week was off the charts. It takes a huge amount of courage to stand up in front of an audience and make a business pitch and they all did this with such confidence.

“It was great to collaborate with other schools and unite pupils across Scotland, encouraging problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership skills together. I’d like to thank everyone who supported the event and helped to make it such a successful day, including Rupinder Drew from the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, The Workshop Aberfeldy for creating such beautiful medals, our pupil helpers, the teachers and parents who supported us and most importantly our finalists.”

Andrew McGarva, Rector of Morrison’s Academy added: “What a truly memorable day showcasing outstanding products, passion and innovation from our young finalists. The quality of work from each group was exceptionally high, making choosing a winner a very tough decision. Every one of our finalists should feel proud of what they have achieved and a special congratulations goes to the winning team from Dunblane Primary School.”