Quick Cookies rise to challenge

BUDDING young entrepreneurs from West Berkshire saw six months of hard work pay off as the winners of the Cultivate challenge were revealed last week.

For the last six months, business brains of the future have been working with local mentors to help develop their own business ideas.

Each of the nine finalist teams delivered a pitch to a panel of judges, presenting their 30-second video of their business proposition and answering searching questions.

The winning team for this year’s challenge, which is developed by Education Business Partnership West Berkshire, was announced last week as Thea Manton and Harriet Atherton from Quick Cookies, who were mentored by Ian Hanson.

The two runners-up were Eden Laing from Buttonology who was mentored by Michelle Bailey from People Essentials, and Emily Ayling, from Candles with Handles, mentored by Hilary Purton from Bayer.

Chief executive of Education Business Partnership Amanda Richards said: “The creative talent and budding business minds that are emerging from this programme is impressive.

“These young people have applied themselves to this opportunity and really embraced the chance to learn from their business mentors.

“It was exciting to see how they had developed over the past six months.

“It is really uplifting to see the emerging talent that West Berkshire can be very proud of.”

The lead sponsors for the challenge are Greenham Common Trust and Bayer.