A Lincoln school has gained funding from business entrepreneur and dragon Peter Jones’ newest national competition to find great ideas in schools.
A team of 20 students aged 12-17 (pictured) from Lincoln Castle Academy created Kongo, a social enterprise venture selling phone socks and solar panel phone chargers impressed the Dragon’s Den star.
The group submitted their proposal to the Tycoon in Schools competition a month ago, and with funding from Jones, had one week to prepare their enterprise in order to trade over the next four weeks.
The trading process is happening in 50 schools across the UK, and will compete against each other to make the most profit from their seed funding as possible.
Whoever makes the most profit from their original seed capital will be crowned the Ultimate Tycoon in Schools.
The competition backed by the Peter Jones Foundation hopes to annually encourage more young people to consider setting up their own business, and get a new generation of entrepreneurs to “think big”.
Link teacher at Lincoln Castle Academy Katie Vause said: “We are absolutely delighted to be selected to take part in the Tycoon in Schools programme.
“Students enjoy the challenges of setting up and running their own business and with backing from a world-famous dragon, what could be better!
“Our students are now keen to impress and will be working very hard over the coming month to show just how enterprising they can be.”
Peter Jones CBE said: “This is the first year that we have run Tycoon in Schools and I have been hugely impressed by the quality of business plans submitted.
“Students from across the UK have shown great enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit and this competition will showcase their fantastic abilities.
“Students are already wearing their exclusive Tycoon in Schools lapel badges with pride and one teacher referred to them as the Blue Peter badge for business because they are so exclusive.
“I’m personally very excited because as a country we need to do more to encourage enterprise and it is my view that we should be helping develop entrepreneurial talent from the earliest opportunity in schools.”
The winner will be announced in December, with an awards ceremony in January for the top performing teams.
Schools teaching ages 11-18 interested in taking part next year can visit the Tycoon in Schools website to fill out an application form.
Source: Lincoln Castle Academy
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Can you help us identify the woman in these CCTV images?
We are appealing for help to identify the woman shown in these CCTV images following a theft that occurred on Wednesday 22 June in Grimsby.
A 92-year-old woman was walking through Freshney Place Shopping centre, Grimsby when it is believed that her purse was taken from her shopping trolley.
The woman in these images we believe may be able to assist with our investigations and we would ask anyone who believes they recognise her to please contact us on our non-emergency 101 line quoting log 246 of 23 June.
A retired fire engine that used to operate in Grimsby was used in Ukraine to help combat a missile attack on a shopping centre, which the G7 has described as a ‘war crime’ by Russia.
On Monday, footage emerged of a missile striking a shopping centre in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky claiming is is evidence of a deliberate attack by Russia.
At least 20 people were killed and around 56 were injured following the incident, with G7 leaders saying the attack is considered a war crime. More than 1,000 people were inside the building when it was hit by the missile.
A familiar looking fire engine can be seen in video footage of the blaze shared across news outlets and social media platforms, in the form of an old Humberside Fire & Rescue vehicle.
Large shopping mall in Kremenchuk with hundreds of civilians inside has been hit by a Russian strike. Russia is a disgrace to humanity and it must face consequences. The response should be more heavy arms for Ukraine, more sanctions on Russia, and more businesses leaving Russia. pic.twitter.com/Uvi6fbyShK
The fire engine used to operate here in North East Lincolnshire, covering Grimsby and Immingham, and it is one of many vehicles sent out by Humberside Fire & Rescue to various countries across Europe in recent years.
Fire Aid recently sent a convoy of around 75 vehicles, equipment and clothing to Ukraine to help provide resources for recovery.
At least 20 people were killed in the incident. | Photo: BBC Look North
Area manager Matthew Sutcliffe told BBC Look North: “We’ve sent a number of fire engines since 2015 over there. These are end of life fire engines for us in Humberside, so we share them across Eastern Europe where we can.
“It’s an absolute tragedy what we saw yesterday. Firefighters there were using one of our old fire engines to protect the property but also save lives.”
"Absolute terrorism" – says @ZelenskyyUa and publishes a video of a deliberate missile strike on the Kremenchuk shopping center with people inside. Russian propaganda always lies: there is no coincidence, it is a deliberate blow to intimidate the population and mass victims. pic.twitter.com/Gx1f90cMta
During a regular nightly address to the nation on Monday, president Zelensky said: “The Russian missile hit this very object, purposefully. Obviously, that was the order. It is obvious that Russian assassins received such coordinates for this missile.
“They wanted to kill as many people as possible in a peaceful city, in a regular shopping mall.”