Annual Sustainable Entrepreneurship Course at St Paul’s

Young Entrepreneurs from across West London show the future of sustainable business is bright.

Over 160 Year 11 pupils from across five West London schools attended the annual Sustainable Entrepreneurship Course at St Paul’s last week. The three-day course is a key component of the school’s award-winning Start It Entrepreneurship programme, acting as a unique opportunity for young people to come together and collaborate together to produce a sustainable business concept. 

As part of the course, attending pupils were given access to recent graduates from ReBalance Earth, a UK-based natural capital asset manager that treats nature restoration as business-critical infrastructure and received expert advice on the world of the AI jobs market by TechSheCan, demonstrating that AI used properly can be a major tool for empowerment. 

To round off the series of talks, Old Paulina Imme Ermgassen, co-founder of Botivo Drinks, provided a unique insight into the life of a founder of a successful drinks brand, sharing her top tips for success.

All 16 groups finished the course by presenting their business concepts, with ideas ranging from carbon neutral concrete, to biodegradable and eco-friendly chewing gum. Two separate joint groups of SPGS and SPS pupils took home the best presentation and advert awards, while a combined team of Hammersmith Academy and SPS won the much coveted Sustainability award for their domestic food preservation concept. 

The ultimate prize of best overall company went to Greenslate, a team comprised of SPGS and SPS pupils who had developed a modular tiling system which could be placed on buildings in urban areas to support vegetation growth, thereby providing passive cooling for the building while also removing CO2 from the atmosphere. A huge thanks to judges in the marketing team as well as guest judges Jatin Ondhia and Stephen Rockman OP whose vast experience in the world of venture capital and business proved invaluable when selecting the winning groups. 

Mr Nick Troen (Head of Entrepreneurship)