4 Business Argus Out & About


Hunter Lodges launch THE Celtic Manor Resort held a launch event to celebrate the official opening of its new Hunter Lodges. With spectacular views over the Twenty Ten Course and Usk Valley beyond, the ten luxury lodges all have four double or twin bedrooms, fitted kitchen and spacious dining and living areas, as well as outdoor hot-tub and private sauna.


Tuesday, April 1, 2014


Teams battle it out at Young Enterprise final


By Jo Barnes 01633 777240 jba@gwent-wales.co.uk Twitter @SWABusiness


THREE schools from Newport battled it out for a place at the Wales final of the 2014 Young Enterprise competition. The schools – Rougemont,


Chris Amardao and Susan Corsi


Duffryn and St Joseph’s – were at the Newport city campus of the University of SouthWales for the final of the Newport and Monmouthshire Young Enterprise 2014 competition. The teams of youngsters had to impress the judges with their busi- ness, their trade stand, a business report and a presentation in front of the judges. The team from Rougemont was


Alan Evans, Alice Briegel, Robert O’Siochain Emma Jones, Carrie Smith, Claire Hill


Envico,which had come up with the idea of a teaching aid for pri- mary school ageWelsh learners, which could be used at home, as well as in school. They were named Best Young Enterprise Company 2014 for the region. They also picked up awards for Best Product/Service, Best Presentation and Best Company Report. Blesio, the team from Duffryn High School,which created its own chocolate bar, won the awards for Best Use of IT and Social Media and the Community and EnvironmentalAwarenessAward. JayWaugh, of team Blesio, was named as giving the Best Individual Contribution. St Joseph’s team, Imperial,


Debbie John and Glen Lewis


which created a pack aimed at teaching students about financial matters, picked up the award for the Best Trade Stand and Interview. Kath Lewis, chairmanof Newport and Monmouthshire Young Enterprise, said: “I was extremely pleased with the enthu- siasm, dedication and hard work shownby all the teamswho made it to the area finals. MsLewis, head of marketing


andHRat Newport-based IACLtd, said: “The experience of taking part in the Young Enterprise pro- grammewill stand them in good stead for their future careers. Recognition should also be given to those teamswho participated in the programmebut didn’t make it to the area final, the experience itself is success enough. “Young Enterprise’s philosophy


Martyn Williams, Gareth Edwards and Russell Phillips


is learning by doing. As a young enterprise alumni myself, I was inspired by the programmeand the real world experience. It was the first step inmyjourney in business and particularly market- ing, I hope for many of the stu- dents it will inspire them on to their chosen careers. Of the three schoolswho compet-


Amanda Whiting, Cheryl Higgs and Jamie Baulch


ed in the Newport and Monmouthshire Young Enterprise regional finals, Kath said St Joseph’s School displayed amaz- ing confidence and an extremely professional brand, image and


WINNERS: The Envico team from Rougemont School celebrate receiving the top honour at the Newport and Monmouthshire Young Enterprise regional finals


team spirit and Duffryn School had a great product and enterpris- ing way of going to market. She said the Duffryn team have


obviously put a lot of effort in to trade fairs and markets in order to get their product to market. She said Rougemont had an extremely professional presenta- tion and company report, with the judges commenting that this had the look and style of writing they would expect to see from an estab- lished business. CarysOwen, head of business studies and economics at Rougemont, said the Envico team was delighted to be representing the region at the all-Wales final.


She said: “Young Enterprise is


very important to the school and the students. At the start of the process we had 20 pupils in the team and we still have 16 of them involved. This ismyfirst year of being involved and I have really enjoyed it. Envico are really pleased. They are already looking to improve everything in time for the final.” Chris Taylor, operations director


at Newport-based Kymin,which acted as mentor for the Duffryn team, said: “I’m delighted with the progress that the Duffryn pupils have made since joining the Young Enterprise Company Programme last year. Collecting these awards


is a testament to their dedication and ability to learn business skills within a short space of time. “I feel that special praise should


also go to the teachers involved, James Rees and Lynette Healy who have embraced the scheme and put a lot of their time and commitment with the team of pupils. They have also benefited from local support from their reg- ular mentor, Lee Deakin from the IPO office. “The pupils should be proud of their rapid development and the valuable business experience they have gained from taking part in the programme.” See: young-enterprise.org.uk


New authority ready to take on lenders and energy firms


APOWERFULnew competition watchdog has come into force today as part of a shake-up to make mar- kets work better. The Competition and Markets Authority is expect-


ed to have payday lenders and energy firms in its sights after taking over the responsibilities of the Competition Commission and some functions of the Office of Fair Trading. The body will be responsible for making sure mar-


kets are ‘open, transparent and dynamic’ by con- ducting market studieswhere theremay be compe- tition and consumer problems, investigating merg- ers and probing possible breaches of UKorEUpro- hibitions against abuses of dominant positions. The new body will also take over the caseload of


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the Competition Commission, including its probe into payday lending, due to report back this year. Last week, regulators said they planned to refer


the energy sector for investigation. TheCMAinvestigation will be the first ever full- scale competition probe into the energy sector and is likely to be launched within weeks. The body has extensive powers to shake up the sector by removing “long-termstructural barriers to competition”. Another area of interest theCMAhas already highlighted is the rapidly-expanding online market. TheCMAwas established under the Enterprise


and Regulatory ReformAct 2013. It came into being last October 2013, before taking on full powers today.


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