Students from Richard Huish College have been crowned as both champions and runners-up of the Screwfix Skills Challenge after beating competition from eight other teams from local colleges and sixth form centres.
Run in partnership with Inspirational Learning and Screwfix, the Screwfix Skills Challenge tasked A Level Business students with developing and pitching a brand new ‘service offering’ for one of Screwfix’s market segments – either DIY home customers or trade customers.
Students had to consider what their offering might look like in the future, including promotional activities, resources and costings. Taking part were teams from Richard Huish College, Bridgwater & Taunton College, Yeovil College, Gryphon Sixth Form and Wadham College.
Shortlisted teams were invited to a spectacular final in Yeovil on Thursday 25th April to make a four minutes pitch to a panel of judges made up of Screwfix’s senior regional managers. The evening was compared by celebrity host, English actor Cel Spellman, and featured an evening meal and entertainment alongside the competition.
Team Screwfru from Huish pitched an innovative idea involving a drive-through service whereby tradespeople could have their vans loaded with purchased or hired tools to increase convenience.
Team Storagefix from Huish pitched a storage solution idea for tradespeople that was coupled with a creative range of promotional activities including an eye-catching social media campaign that the judges said was ‘unique.’
Both teams impressed the judges with the level of research they had carried out and their creative approach to the brief, generating ideas and thinking ‘outside the box.’ The judges also commended their level of professionalism throughout and high standard of presentation skills.
In the end, the judges decided unanimously that Storagefix was a clear winner. Each student won a personal Amazon echo and the team also won £500 in Screwfix vouchers for the college.
Jenny Perks, A Level Business Course Manager at Huish, said: “The students did a fantastic job applying their business knowledge and theory to the Screwfix scenario. They came up with some really interesting ideas for a new product and service and it was a great experience for them to pitch these to industry experts.”
Team members were: Winning team Storagefix – Luke Shier, Sarah Mahoney, Ellie Craddock and Kane Gebala Higgins; Runner up team: Screwfru – Harvey Betts, Tom Edwards, Toby Foster, Ravi Khakhar and James Pellow.
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