A pair of Wilmslow students are officially ‘hired’ after facing the wrath of Sir Alan Sugar’s famous right hand woman, Margaret Mountford.
Gabrielle Westington, 17, and Jayana Patel, 16, who are both year 12 students at Withington Girls’ School, were part of the winning team in a special Apprentice-style competition organised by the Financial Mail on Sunday.
Gabrielle, who is studying her AS levels and hopes to work in the media, said: "It was really fun, we had to put quite a lot of work into it but it was worth it. We worked on it over lunch times for about two months. We had to design the game and then source the card and the counters to make it. There was quite a lot of pressure to get it all done in the time we had, but we all wanted to do the best we possibly could so we probably put more pressure on ourselves," she added.
The ‘Breaking the Mould Apprentice Challenge’ saw the Wilmslow girls beat off competition with their innovative board game based around the brain and credit cards, which was designed to teach youngsters how to manage their money, as well as test the girls’ own financial and marketing skills.
They then faced three other teams in the final at a swanky London hotel, which included gruelling questions from Margaret’s own Apprentice style boardroom. Jayana, who is hoping to study medicine at university, said: "We didn’t expect to get to London to be honest, but we loved it. Margaret was really nice, I know she has a reputation for being tough but she wasn’t scary or intimidating."
The other team members were Shruti Chaudhary, Alexandra Davis, Nicole Jesse and Elsie Varley.
Lisa Buckingham, editor of Financial Mail on Sunday said: "Faced with the task of devising and bringing to market a game that will make teaching personal finance in the classroom fun as well as educational, Withington Girls School’s team has wowed the judges with their ingenuity, understanding of the issues, their creativity and mastery of business and finance."
