Barking and Dagenham Council joined Social Enterprise Academy to encourage young people to step up and present their social or environmental initiatives to a panel of ‘Dragons’ at Barking Town Hall. Each group received feedback and a cash prize to help them develop their school enterprises, sponsored by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Four local schools came forward, allowing their pupils to engage with a cause they care about whilst developing valuable kills, as they planned a social enterprise and presented it in an 8-minute pitch in the Council Chamber. 

The projects tackled a range of different issues, from reducing air pollution around schools and the amount of waste that ends up in landfill to delivering hygiene packs to homeless people, reducing poverty, and promoting diversity. But they all had something in common: the aim to create a business that makes a difference in their local community.

Becontree Primary were the overall winners of the event, but Riverside Primary were also recognised for pitching the Best Environmental Enterprise, Beam Primary for delivering the Most Creative Pitch, a Year 10 group from Greatfields School for their Community Cohesion, and a Year 12 group from the same school for pitching the Most Charitable Enterprise.

Councillor Elizabeth Kangethe, Cabinet Member for Education Attainment and School Improvement, was one of the ‘Dragons’ in the panel. She said: “These young people are the future of the borough, and it was wonderful to see them showing the stuff Barking and Dagenham is made of. The projects they pitched reflect the borough’s diversity and community spirit, and I would like to encourage more schools to apply for this project in future.”

Matt Nicol, Head of Programme Development in the Education Team at Social Enterprise Academy, said: “It was great to see the next generation of Barking and Dagenham’s social entrepreneurs in action. They all shared creative and thoughtful responses to local social issues and have a great future ahead of them.”

Another member of the panel, Matthew Singh, Investor at BGF, commented: “It was fantastic to allow children the opportunity to feel confident, present their ideas, and think about how they can impact their communities.” 

Philippe Gabriel, Engineer at Cirrus Logic and another member of the jury, added: “It’s refreshing to see so much motivation and it was clear that the young people put a lot of effort into these projects. We witnessed something special happening. It was even better than I expected, and I’m glad we could encourage these children.”

This programme it’s part of a three-year project and is fully-funded by the Social Enterprise Academy thanks to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Social Enterprise Academy will be supporting four schools across Barking and Dagenham this school year, seven schools in the school year 2023/24, and 12 schools in the school year 2024/25.

Social Enterprise Academy have also been working with schools across the London Boroughs of Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Hounslow, and Lambeth.