Young Enterprise Grampian awards dinner 2012

by Katherine

Mark, Fiona and I hosted a table on Monday night at the Marcliffe Hotel for the Young Enterprise Grampian awards dinner. An annual event it celebrates the achievements of Young Enterprise companies from schools across Aberdeen City and Shire.

The evening started with drinks and the opportunity to browse the six finalist’s stalls. I think between us and our guests there were something bought from each stall; such was the quality of the products on offer. Personally I purchased two reusable sandwich wrappers from Future Prospects who went on to claim the overall prize at the event; I must have a good eye!

The event then moved upstairs to the ballroom where we were joined at our table by two students from Mus-eco - a team from Inverurie Academy. They had used old records to produce cake stands, bowls, plates and clocks and their products were definitely the most eye catching of the evening. Mus-eco went on to win the most awards of the evening which, based on the quality of the products and professionalism of the team, were thoroughly deserved.

The first speaker of the evening was Jamie Hutcheon of Cocoa Ooze (www.cocoa-ooze.co.uk), who started his company at the age of 17, an inspiration to all budding entrepreneurs. I have had the pleasure of sampling Cocoa Ooze chocolates before and have to say I was delighted we were all given a little box to take away.

The key note speaker of the evening was Michelle Mone of Ultimo bra fame. She gave a really interesting, honest account of her rise to success with some good lessons that she learned along the way. Again, a brilliant inspiration for all at the event especially the Young Enterprise companies themselves who having just sampled a taste of running their own business could see from Jamie and Michelle’s presentations that if you are driven to succeed and have a passion for what you do there is always opportunity to thrive in business.

This was our 3rd year of attending this event and it is definitely something a little different from the normal awards dinners. It was a great opportunity to entertain our guests at such a worthwhile and interesting event. It is one we will definitely be attending next year and one we would highly recommend.