Success for Lower Eighths at Young Enterprise Quarter Finals

Success for Lower Eighths at Young Enterprise Quarter Finals at Rathbones Wealth Management, 21 April 2026

Mr Nick Troen reports:

On the first day back of the Summer Term, St Paul’s sent an unprecedented number of four Lower Eighth Young Enterprise teams to the prestigious offices of Rathbones Wealth Management in the City for a chance to proceed to the penultimate stage of the 2026 Company of the Year competition.

After an intense year of business planning, product development, and selling at various trade fairs across London, the best of St Paul’s entrepreneurship overcame yet another challenge, this time in the form of London’s striking tube drivers, to arrive at Rathbones’ offices at 30 Gresham Street with bags and suitcases filled to the brim with merchandise, trade stand apparatus and company-branded clothing.

Revive had impressed at previous rounds with their t-shirts featuring endangered species, with the rarity of the clothing directly correlated to the rarity of the animals, and Hex had updated their impressive product range featuring a modular bee-hive, plant pot and bird feeder for urban gardens. Two joint teams, Avani and HaloX, made up of pupils from SPS and SPGS, had also excelled in the previous rounds, having sold vast quantities respectively of their safety-alarm toys and custom-made jewellery designed for those with dexterity issues.

Facing stiff competition from the best young entrepreneurs from schools across South West and West London, this round is particularly competitive with only one team advancing to the next round and all teams were subject to rigorous interviews, trade stand inspections and a final four minute presentation to the judging panel and assembled guests.

With only four awards available, it was an impressive night for St Paul’s teams with HaloX picking up the first of the evening, winning the marketing award, swiftly followed by Avani who took home the sustainability award, representing a fantastic achievement for our joint teams who have the added logistical challenge of coordinating their businesses from either side of Hammersmith Bridge. Ultimately, only one team is awarded the top prize and this year Hex triumphed, winning Best Overall Company, and now go on to represent the whole of West London at the London and Essex semi-final on May 15 at Amazon HQ, again in the City. Congratulations to the 87 pupils who have been involved this year, the accomplishments and awards achieved by all of those taking part underlines the incredible quality and breadth of entrepreneurial talent of our pupils, both here at St Paul’s and at SPGS.