Business Students at Xaverian College were recently set the challenge of turning Slurrp Farm from a small, local healthy food provider into a national brand.
The farm set Xaverian College Students a brief to work with University of Chester Business School Students to create a business plan to launch Slurrp Farm’s ambitions to transition from being a local producer of niche food products to expanding its distribution network to the whole of the UK.
The students first developed their ideas into a business plan and, in a Dragons’ Den-style pitch, presented their ideas to a panel of experts in the Northwest’s biggest boardroom. The students focused their ideas around the company’s mission to be a green provider and pitched a sustainable concept as a basis for marketing their products. As well as gaining valuable business experience to put on their future careers, the students were given a taster of university life with a chance to explore the university’s facilities.
Theo Teague, former Priestnall School student, said: “It has been a fascinating experience and, as well as being a great addition to my CV, it has given me a great insight into university life. We got the opportunity to work on a real-life project and present our findings which was really valuable in teaching us the business skills needed to succeed in the future.”
Jokotola Adenuga, who joined the College after studying her GCSEs at St Thomas More RC College, added: “The day was extremely informative and interesting. The lecturers offered lots of insight into what studying Business at the University is like and it has really motived me. I thought all groups showed entrepreneurial flair and developed innovative ideas that Slurpp Farm could implement. It was a great day and I hope we get to do something similar next year!”
Fran Shollo, Lecturer of Business at the University of Chester, commented: “We were delighted to host such outstanding students from Xaverian College.
“The students were challenged to pitch their ideas and think on their feet. The outcome was extremely successful and staff from Chester Business School thoroughly enjoyed this visit. I was astonished by my team of students, they were enthusiastic, driven and committed to the task.
“At Chester Business School, we put experiential learning at the forefront, hence why the Slurrp Business workshop helped the students engage in a practical task, and expand their academic knowledge further. It has been a real pleasure and I look forward to seeing them again in the near future. Well done everyone!”
Do you want your own start-up business and are you thirsty for success? Do you wake up every day with product ideas and do you want to develop these ideas and get them to the UK or a global marketplace? Then you’ll thrive on a Business course at Xaverian.
As one of the largest providers of post-16 education in the region, Xaverian College offers exciting opportunities to over 2500 students. To find out more, visit xaverian.ac.uk – Discover Your Future!
