A cold and rainy winter’s morning wouldn’t be considered the ideal backdrop for a trade fair, but tucked within the relative shelter of the Nicholson Centre, in Maidenhead, the region’s Young Enterprise teams put any worries about the weather behind them and enthusiastically set about creating their stalls at the first fair of the year.

The two teams from Claires Court, (Foldabag Ltd and Illumination Ltd) showed great commitment from the beginning - arriving early and thus securing prime spots at the front of the store to help maximise sales for their foldaway bags and handcrafted candleholders.

Like a scene from the popular BBC show ‘The Apprentice’ (albeit much more civilised!), 12 teams from across the region, including our own, pitted spirit and salesmanship against each other to try and secure the most orders. Things were going well, so well in fact that within the first couple of hours Foldabag were approached by a business hoping to make a bulk purchase of their product to use within their store.

Under most circumstances that would have been the highlight of everyone’s day, but one shopper had other ideas. It happened to be none other than our very own Prime Minister and local MP Theresa May. Our students took great delight in discussing their business ideas with her and allowing her to take some of their products to enjoy at home (she doesn’t carry cash apparently so an IOU had to do!).

After an hour, the VIP visit came to an end and it was back to business for our entrepreneurs.  The teams remained fully committed for the remainder of the day; balancing selling to the public and promoting their businesses around the shopping centre whilst still facing tough questions from the Young Enterprise judges about their business ideas.

Both teams deserve a huge congratulations for successfully launching their businesses to the public. They produced high quality products and retail stands and showed great team spirit and enthusiasm, that the leader of our country, and perhaps more importantly, our school can be proud of!

The next trade fair will be in Windsor on Saturday 3 March.