Students from across the North West impressed judges with their environmental credentials at the regional finals of the Young Enterprise competition.

The event, which was due to be held in Lancaster University Management School before the Covid-19 pandemic caused it to be moved online, featured eight young teams from Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, all of whom created products with helping the planet in mind.

The Hydrosport team from Cheadle Hulme School were crowned Best Overall Company, impressing the judges – including Lancaster University’s Dr Li Xiao and LUMS alumna Alice Hackett, now of the Hut Group – with their innovative, creatively branded, smart water bottles. They will represent the North West at the Young Enterprise UK Company of the Year UK Final.

Dr Xiao, a Lecturer in the Entrepreneurship and Strategy Department in LUMS, said: "I was very impressed by the high standard of the North West Final entrants. I was delighted to see that these young students are passionate not only about the products or services they provide but also the desire to save our planet. It was wonderful to see them identifying and recognising attractive business opportunities with the potential to succeed in the market."

The finals celebrated the achievements of students who have set up and run a company over the academic year as part of the Young Enterprise Company Programme, supported nationally by HSBC UK.

Other teams came from Cockermouth School and Nelson Thomlinson School, Cumbria; Wilmslow High School and Cheshire College Crewe Campus, Cheshire; Altrincham Grammar for Boys and Withington Girls School, Greater Manchester; and Blackpool & Fylde College.

Among their projects were creating manufactured wooden learning blocks to support numeracy and literacy development; producing handmade dog toys from recycled products; and beachcombing to repurpose junk and create bespoke jewellery.

The teams competed across five categories – Teamwork, Sustainability, Marketing, Customer Service and Presenting. The judges awarded the Best Presentation and Marketing Awards to HydroSport, while the Arconic Award for Sustainability went to Junk Jewellery, from Blackpool & Fylde College, and the Customer Service and Teamwork Awards went to YouPhoria, from Withington Girls School.

“While we are disappointed not to have been able to welcome these talented and industrious young businesspeople to the Management School, we are pleased we have been able to support such a valuable event once again,” said Dr Casey Cross, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in LUMS.

“The Young Enterprise North West finals bring together a wealth of talented students from across the region, who have demonstrated their skills to set up and run companies covering a wide variety of products and services.

“The Young Enterprise Company Programme provides them with invaluable experience of being in charge of a business, learning lessons we at Lancaster University build on and examine with our students.”

Rami Kers, the student Managing Director from the winning Hydrosport team, said: “Winning the North West finals is surreal. We’ve been through so much as a team over these past eight months and reaching the national competition is so rewarding.

“The team has worked incredibly hard towards achieving this goal and every single one of us has played a huge part in our success. The next challenge is the national finals in June which we are greatly anticipating. However, we must not get complacent and we are going to carry on working hard and optimising our chance of winning the whole competition. I strongly believe this is possible, especially considering everyone’s commitment to HydroSport.”

This year’s teams set up companies over the academic year, making all the decisions about their business, from deciding the company name and product, to creating a business plan, managing their finances and selling their products – despite challenging conditions due to Covid-19.

Sharon Davies, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise, said: “Reaching the Company Programme regional final represents an inspirational journey with many months of hard work, teamwork, creativity and resilience; congratulations HydroSport.

“The experience and skills students from every team will have developed will stay with them for many years to come and will make a tangible difference to their futures. Students have shown particular resilience this year by continuing with their product development and sales despite school closures.”