We were delighted to be invited along to Social Enterprise Academy's Dragons Den event in Glasgow City Centre last week.

For the first time since 2020 we were able to really get back out and engage with practitioners and young people on a face to face basis, and there isn't a better opportunity to do this than tying into the great work being done by our partners.

The Dragons Den events are a favourite within schools due to the real, tangible learning that young people experience whilst having the opportunity to develop an idea for 'good'.

There were 18 groups of social entrepreneurs ranging from lower primary to secondary level, each with a unique and innovative idea, that were ready to pitch for a £100 investment into their business.

Meet the Dragons

• Jennifer Robertson from GSEN
• Bayile Adeoti from Dechomai
• Lucy McOuat from Scotland's Enterprising Schools

When participating in the Dragons' Den programme, schools have access to in-person workshops to support them in developing their social enterprise idea along with a host of resources to inspire and guide them in creating their business plan which is then submitted ahead of their pitching at the competition.

Teams have the chance to share their learning, demonstrate their products and answer questions posed by the Dragons.

Who were our entrepreneurs?

• Ashton Secondary School
• Battlefield Primary School
• Hazlewood School
• Hollybrook Academy
• King's Park Secondary
• Lorne Street Primary
• Pirie Park Primary
• Riverside Primary
• St. Albert's Primary
• St. Bernard's Primary
• St. Bartholomew's Primary – Group 1
• St. Bartholomew's Primary – Group 2
• St. Constantine's Primary
• St. Joseph's Primary
• St. Michael's Primary
• St. Mungo's Primary
• St. Rose of Lima – Group 1
• St. Rose of Lima – Group 2

Each team was able to demonstrate the learning they'd undertaken on their journey, the skills they'd developed and also the reasoning they had for why their social enterprise idea would be able to make a difference. The variety of ideas on display was wide-ranging, from creating blankets from crisp packets to combat homelessness, tackling isolation in the elderly throughout knitted goods and also cutting down single use plastic waste through implementing reusable bottles across the school.

The prizes on offer were £100 for the first place winners, with three £75 prizes for the social enterprises deemed to be highly commended –however the judges had such a difficult time trying to decide, that a fourth commendation was given, and all other social enterprises walked away with £50 each to use for their business idea!

Overall Winner - St. Joseph's Primary School

Due to their school photographs being unable to go ahead because of the Covid pandemic, St Joseph's took matters into their own hands, developing their skills and taking photos for parents and guardians, allowing them to purchase photos, bookmarks and keyrings.

Highly Commended

Hollybrook Academy
This group collected in outdated tech from the school and learned how to upgrade and improve it in order to reduce electrical waste and plan to sell these in future to generate profit.

Kings Park Secondary
Identifying how fortunate we are to have access to clean water, this group want to cut out the single-use plastic being used in in our communities through designing and selling reusable stainless steel water bottles.

Hazelwood School
This group of S4 and S6 students run a car wash twice a week and endeavour to provide work experience to young people with complex needs, the team are looking to expand their operation through investment.

Ashton Secondary
Determined to reduce paper waste, this group collected donated fabrics to create reusable whiteboard markers and plan to sell these both within their own school and to other schools in their local community.

Find out more about Social Enterprise Academy here.