Entrepreneurial Cambridge Regional College business students quizzed by the experts at Metro

Business experts from Metro Bank put student entrepreneurs’ ideas to the test in a Dragons’ Den-style panel at Cambridge Regional College.

The students were quizzed on their financial figures, marketing plans and potential market share in a competition to find a winning project – with luxury coffee gift box company Beaumont’s Beans taking the top spot.

Business ideas ranged from an online shop for smoking products to an organic lavender products business, with the students, studying a level 3 business course at CRC, working in teams and individually on different projects.

They had to pitch their enterprise plans to judges Robert Davey, Local Director of Metro Bank, Cambridge, and Mik Kaler, Regional Operations Manager, winning praise for their ideas.

Robert told the students: “We were very impressed by all the pitches which were delivered to a high standard. There are some original and great ideas for businesses which made choosing a winner really, really tough. Well done to all the students.”

CRC business lecturer Silvia Duedal said the judges had given the students some very useful feedback.

“The students had some very interesting ideas and did a great job selling them to the judges. They had to put forward a convincing case and cope with lots of questions, but they did very well and received excellent feedback and advice,” she said.

“We’re very grateful to Metro Bank for coming into college to judge the business plans and giving the students first-hand experience of a real start-up pitch.”

Metro Bank, the revolutionary retail bank renowned for its customer service, now has one million account holders, with a store in Cambridge and 47 other sites.