Fuelling the future

Congratulations to 19 Neath Port Talbot College (NPTC) students who recently returned from a successful trip to the World Trade Fair for Virtual Enterprise Companies in the US. And a big ‘thankyou’ to all Washington 80 companies who put their collective hands in their pockets to make the trip possible.

NPTC sent the second year A-level students to New York to represent the UK in an international competition of 146 teams, after winning the Best Practice Firm Marketing and Innovation title in November 2009. The students – ‘Apprentice style’ - set up their own business selling smoothies and fancy dress hire.

What’s more, the business model they created gained international recognition too: In the Global Enterprise Challenge, NPTC student Tim Cole achieved second place, fellow student Craig Lane came 11th out of 121 entrants in the ‘Promotional Materials’ category, and the college was 13th in the trade stands category and 30th overall.

The students were also expected to raise a fair proportion of their fares and expenses themselves through sponsorship, and the W80 group raising over £800 of donations towards the £6,000 required.