Then the story begins…..
Come hell or high water, every Wednesday from 3.30pm until 6.00pm, 12 students along with Ms Delfino and Ms Rashid made interesting taxi journeys to Spinningfields to meet at Barclays head office.
The students were inspired by the input from TiE Entrepreneurs.
Each team was allocated a mentor and finally the time came for the mock practice pitch. The teams pitched their ideas to Venture Capitalists and Business Angels – who were enthused by the energy from the students. They asked the questions that they would normally ask potential investors and the teams were grilled until ready.
After much debate from the judges, Team Mubariz went through to compete globally with the other chapters in TiE.
The 4 boys and their mentor Claire Holt met regularly to improve, refine and review their pitch to perfection.
Finals
On, Saturday, 15th June 2013, the team, along with Ms Delfino, Ms Rashid, Ms Begum and the TiE member arrived ready to present their pitch to the judges at George Mason University, Washington D.C.
Panic struck when the judges decided that UK North could go before India, however due to technical difficulties this did not happen!! India made their pitch and the team listened intently to the live broadcast from India.
Team Mubariz pitched their idea well and thought the questions asked by the judges were easy! All 4 students were impressive and Mubariz delivered an excellent one minute elevator pitch to the judges at George Mason University.
Relief was in the air when the team was finally ‘off the air’. TiE members presented the boys with a Kindle each along with a journal as a memento of being the winning team in UK North.
As a final celebration Manchester Academy staff invited all the teams out for a delicious meal.
The team from Vancouver, Canada won the overall competition. But the young people from Manchester Academy through sheer hard work and endless hours of preparation and practice showed dedication, commitment and perseverance.
They developed key employability and social skills.
It is a measure of how impressive they were that Manchester Academy has been invited once again to take part in next year’s global competition.
By Ruth Warburton
Enterprise Administrator
Manchester Academy