Habs welcomed star-studded panel to Elstree for Dragons’ Den event
The Lord Bilimoria CBE, DL: “I strongly believe that what I have witnessed at The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School is the type of thing that every school in Britain should be doing.”
On Wednesday 4 March 2020, The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School hosted the grand final of its own Dragons’ Den competition. The competition ran for the first time in 2016 and this year ran in partnership with the neighbouring Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls. The final took place as part of National Careers Week, and the aim of the initiative is to encourage creativity, entrepreneurial spirit; and to help pupils refine their presentation skills and ability to think on their feet.
As in previous years, the School encouraged teams of pupils to explore their entrepreneurial instincts and submit a business idea. Ten teams were selected to pitch to a specially invited panel of Dragons in two after-school heats; after which four teams were invited to pitch in the grand final. The teams of students, all in Years 10 and 11, pitched their ideas to a star-studded panel of judges comprising Claude Littner, successful entrepreneur and celebrated aide to Lord Sugar on BBC’s The Apprentice; former TV Dragon Nick Jenkins, Founder of Moonpig; Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE, DL, Founder and Chairman of Cobra Beer; and Shivani Shah, UK General Manager of cosmetics brands Maybelline, Essie and NYX Professional Make Up.
The event was once again introduced and chaired by television presenter Sonali Shah, who expertly kept proceedings to time. After four excellent pitches, the judges were unable to pick just one winner. HydroClean, comprising Athavan, Anish, Keshav, Erekle and Yash in Year 10 from the Boys’ School and Pedal Power’s Phoebe and Tanya from the Girls’ School were declared joint winners.
HydroClean came up with a solution to clear seas, rivers and lakes from plastic by collecting the waste in a mobile bin system. Pedal Power invented a system whereby kinaesthetic energy from riding a bike, as well as solar energy, was used to charge a mobile device.
After the event all finalists were lucky enough to be able to not only network with the judges, but also receive one-to-one informal feedback and take some photos with them!
Claude Littner said: “I must congratulate all of the teams. It is clear that the Habs pupils have worked tremendously hard. They have surpassed my expectations and certainly are all winners to me! A huge congratulations to all at Haberdashers’ for putting on this fantastic event.”
Nick Jenkins said: “The event was great fun. This sort of thing is a truly important exercise and encourages entrepreneurial spirit. I was very impressed with the ability of the willingness of the pupils to pitch in front of a jam-packed Bourne Hall all full of their peers, parents, teachers and the ‘dragons’. What’s also impressive is that all teams had some element of a social mission. It is evident that the teams had really thought about their ideas and had conducted an abundance of research.”
Lord Bilimoria said: “I strongly believe that what I have witnessed at Haberdashers’ is the type of thing that every school in Britain should be doing. It builds key skills such as creativity and innovation. I really could not believe that these pupils are only 15 or 16 years of age, but then again this is Habs. The Schools live up to their reputation – they are all very bright pupils and excel academically, but they are also so well-rounded and take advantage of all opportunities on offer to them. It’s astonishing! Well done to them all.”
Shivani Shah said: “Habs Dragons’ Den is a brilliant initiative. I’m very passionate about supporting young people to be successful as individuals, particularly in business. The pupils were composed under pressure and really held their own – they acquitted themselves incredibly well. It was great to see that the Girls’ School was involved in this year’s competition. I grew up close by to Habs, but never had this sort of opportunity when I was at school. Habs is very forward-thinking and has a stunning campus in which to learn and grow.”
The competition was the vision of Khilan Dodhia, an Old Boy himself and Partner at Encore Capital. Khilan explained the reason why he wanted to help organise the event for the third time: “It’s important that students and their parents think about a broader range of careers. There are new opportunities out there. This year we were delighted to welcome the Girls' School to the event. We used the popular Dragons’ Den theme again to engage the younger audience into being passionate about business. We’re delighted to continue to inspire entrepreneurship. The ‘dragons’ were tough and the pupils were excellent and composed in pitching and answering all of their questions. The quality and confidence on show from the Habs pupils was unbelievable.”
The School are extremely grateful to Khilan and his colleagues at Encore Capital for their ongoing support with this exciting competition. Immense thanks must also go to the judges for giving up their time to attend the event, as well as to those at the School who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the competition yet again.
