Ten students from the College have recently been awarded £100 investment from Young Enterprise, after forming their own company called ‘Conspiracy’. The team started their own business as part of the College’s enrichment programme.

Young Enterprise is the UK’s largest business and enterprise education charity with the aim of helping young people to learn about the world of business. The student’s company, named, ‘Conspiracy’, has been set up to promote young artistic talent from within the College, particularly those looking to develop their careers in the creative industries. Conspiracy’s Business Plan involves selling student artwork at the College’s Open Days and other events. So far they have made around £200 to invest back into their company.

In the first leg of the competition, where the students were up against teams from 10 other local schools, the team had to present a 90 second pitch and then answer some difficult questions posed by the judges. ‘Conspiracy’ won the top investment of £100, with several companies representing Young Enterprise investing in their business idea.

The team have also just won yet another investment for their business plan, which they submitted at the end of 2014.

The Team ‘Conspiracy’ members are:

Jack Hardie (Managing Director), Rachel Southgate, Sarah Southwell, Anna Southgate, Charlie Crumpton, Lucy Shearer, Kennedy Robinson, Jessica Kelly, Alanah Kendall and Sophie Gough.

Jack Hardie, the Managing Director of ‘Conspiracy’ said, “Young Enterprise (YE) is a fantastic organisation and I’m very thankful to have had this opportunity. We have a brilliant team in place, with a wide range of roles, from Finance Director to Creative Director, which we believe will help us succeed in the Young Enterprise competition.”

Alanah Kendall, Director, added, “I have always enjoyed studying Business and by joining Young Enterprise had the opportunity to put this into practice. It is a huge help for my Business Studies AS course and is great fun! We are all working very hard to reach our goals.”

James Bryant, Young Enterprise Business Advisor said, “I spend 90 minutes a week with the team, supporting them through the challenges they face. The whole process of setting up a company and beginning to sell and market a product is compressed into 6 weeks and so presents a very steep learning curve. The team have excelled in this challenge. They have chosen an inspired, but not easy to execute, business. Whilst this is a commercial enterprise, the underlying motivation is to expose the talent of young artists to buyers, in the hope that seeing people buy their art will enable and encourage them to become professional artists. The buyers get the chance to acquire great original works. The proceeds from the sale of the art is shared between the artists and Conspiracy and is a win/win.”

Sir Gerald Howarth, MP for Aldershot commented on the team's success in the competition, “There were a number of very enterprising ideas produced by local schools and colleges. The judges thought the Conspiracy project organised by The Sixth Form College Farnborough was novel and interesting. Art is a very subjective matter so the idea of selling pictures by student artists was genuinely very enterprising and even the ultimate in recycling!”

The 'Conspiracy' website is now live, allowing the company to sell online via PayPal. Conspiracy can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

‘Conspiracy’ will be at the Young Enterprise Trade Fair at Princes Mead Shopping Centre, Farnborough on Saturday 7th February 2015 promoting the artwork of student photographer, Abbie Ashwood.

Find out more about Young Enterprise.