3rd April 2018
Enterprise students from Barking & Dagenham College who started a retro sweets business have donated 10% of their profits to charity.
The students had to complete a unit called ‘Launch and Run an Enterprise’ and did this with the ‘Young Enterprise Tenner Challenge’; the Tenner Challenge requires young people to start a business with just £10 each. 12 members of the same class decided to form a partnership and therefore had £120 to start their business.
A retro sweets business called Sugar Crush was born on 15th March this year; they purchased old fashioned, sweet shop sweets and packaged them into attractive bags and boxes, decorated with colourful bows etc. It’s similar to the ‘Sweets in the City’ business founded by Apprentice 2017 winner Sarah Lynn.
The team decided to give 10% of all their profits to a local charity called SEC of Seventh-day Adventists which deals with homelessness in the community. They also collected extra donations from staff and students towards the charity.
They’ve been selling their products at stands within the College at open days and special events. So far they have raised £182 and today they presented it to a representative from the charity, Marcia Mendoza, who also works at the College.
Student Mihaela Tudose, 18, from Dagenham said that:
“The support of the team made starting the business much easier; that’s the best thing about doing a business with other people. We were inspired to give 10% of our profits to charity when we saw lots of news reports about the harsh winter weather and the plight of homeless people in the UK.”
The next step will be to expand the business and diversify the products which will include moving into chocolate.
