Their business plan for a light-up Moodlet bracelet, developed after hearing how autistic students find it hard to communicate their emotions, took the first prize of £2,500 in the Gazelle Market Maker 2015 competition, sponsored by global giant Hewlett Packard.
The event, one of the UK’s largest student enterprise competitions, is open to students from across the FE sector and this year attracted more than 1,200 students, working together in 210 teams.
The CRC students faced a Dragons’ Den-style inquisition in the finals at the HP headquarters in Bristol, wowing the judges with the presentation on their business, CommuniCare, and their product.
Their bracelet has a number of interchangeable icons representing happiness, sadness, hunger, thirst and other emotions and needs which light up when pressed – alerting those nearby to the needs of the wearer.
The students, Chloe McHenry, Faye Griggs, Mary Owen-Brown, Davis Dube and Melody Olsen developed a prototype with the help of engineering student Stephen Rayner and sold hundreds of ‘virtual’ bracelets during the day-long competition.
Progression coach Matthew Webb, who helped the team plan for the final, said it had been a fantastic day.
“We are so proud of our students. They have worked so hard and shown incredible determination and commitment,” he said.
Ian Brooks, European Head of Innovation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise said: “On behalf of Hewlett Packard Enterprise I am delighted to offer my congratulations to CommuniCare for winning Market Maker Experience 2015. I have been extremely impressed with all of the teams presenting their innovative business ideas at the finals.”
The judging panel consisted of Penny Power OBE and Kieran Miles, both Gazelle entrepreneurs, and Beth O’Dwyer and Clare Plant, senior managers at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, with 10 teams in the final.
Team CEO Chloe, 18, said the team was still deciding whether to take their business idea any further.
“We are absolutely over the moon to have won. We were confident we had a good product but the competition was so intense - we are still in shock,” she said.
Image:The CRC winning team: Faye Griggs, Melody Olsen, Chloe McHenry, Mary Owen-Brown and Davis Dube
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MEDIA ENQUIRIES
For more information, please contact Lynn O’Shea, Cambridge Regional College Press Officer, on 01223 418773 or email loshea@camre.ac.uk
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