02 Apr Pitch-perfect at our St. Paul’s Hub
This week saw the Dragon’s Den day for our Strive course at our Genesis CUBE Hub in St Paul’s, where we had a record 19 businesses pitch to the panel. Our ‘Dragons’ were Amicus Horizon CEO Paul Hackett, Genesis Housing’s Enterprise Employment and Training manager Sarah Connelly and Access Sport CEO Mark Hardie; all were impressed at the huge range of entrepreneurial ideas the Strivers put forward.
On top of all the excitement of the presentations and awards, we were treated to a feast at lunch, with Janet Ambass cooking up a storm for everyone to enjoy. Janet pitched her idea of starting a Nigerian restaurant to the judges and then provided us all with delicious ‘Jellof Rice’ and mouth-watering chicken cooked with traditional Igbo spices. It seems that the judges were impressed with her culinary exploits, with Amicus Horizon offering to help their resident find a community space to get her business off the ground.
The panel were also impressed with the number of social and ethical enterprises pitching, with Vernon Neve-Dunn of Tiny Tigers and David Pitcher of Wheely Tots demonstrating how their sports-related schemes would help boost community cohesion and parent-child relations in their local areas.
This was the first partnership for Genesis Housing, Amicus Horizon and Access Sport, and brought together residents from across London, united by their passion for enterprise. It was one of our largest courses to date, demonstrating just how many people are seeking the opportunity to start-up their own businesses. We can’t wait to see them succeed in the future!
Photo credit: CUBE user Felipe Gonçalves, see more at www.felipephoto.com