On 5th and 6th June, Group 4 students took part in an exciting business game based on the BBC's popular Dragons' Den programme.

The girls worked in groups of four, and were required to create a product or service.  They had to consider design, materials and production costs, produce a prototype, and decide how to finance and market the product.  The final test was to present their sales pitch to a panel of judges.

During the two days the girls were given plenty of ideas and support through a series of presentations by experts on marketing, finance and starting up a business.  They used every minute of the rest of the time to work on their ideas before making their final preparations on the Friday afternoon.

The panel of 'dragons' was made up of four parents, each of whom runs their own successful business.  Each group was allocated a table in the hall on which to present their product.  The panel then visited each of the nine presentations, scrutinising each product carefully, and asking some searching questions!

Each group then had five minutes to make their pitch to the panel, in front of an audience of staff and fellow students.  Presentations were very individual, with excellent use of powerpoint, drama, costume, and a wide variety of visual aids.

The panel agreed that the final decision was extremely difficult.  Highly commended were Colossal Earth with their solar powered lawn mower, and the Green Bugs with their range of multi-compartment recycling bins for home, office and factory.  The winner was K9, who were confident that their tracker devices for locating lost keys, MP3 players and TV remotes would prove a big seller.

The Big Business Pitch is organised by Kent Works, an organisation which is linked to Kent County Council and delivers educational business links activities across the county.

Organiser Amanda McCarthy reported:  'The Big Business Pitch event at Cobham Hall was fabulous.  Your girls all put so much effort into their products.  They all pulled together, putting the information that was given to them into practice.'

The winning company, K9 Trackers, with the judges, organisers from Kent Works, and Cobham Hall Careers teacher Mrs Wendy Barrett.