Web designers win export competition at Devonport School
6 December 2007
Three Devonport High School for Girls language students who have designed a website selling personalised ice-skating boots, have won a
competition to find the top international entrepreneurs of the future.
The winner of the export competition, from left: Dana Fowles, Thea Hope Johnson and Abi Brooks
The 'DATice' company were chosen as winners by a team of judges at the UK Consulate in Dusseldorf. The company team members Dana Fowles, Abby Brooks and Thea Hope-Johnson have developed a website which sells and distributes personalised ice-skates, which they aim to market overseas.
The Passport to Export competition, backed by UK Trade & Investment and the Regional Language Network South West was run at Devonport High School for Girls for the first time after it was successfully launched at Hayle Community School last year.
The competition began with a programme of workshops - called 'Modern Languages in the Workplace - Exporting Around the World' - to help students develop their business ideas, understand how to go about exporting their product and work on how to sell it in a foreign language.
Students were then asked to form companies and develop a business idea that they thought had export potential. The companies presented their ideas to the UKTI international trade team in Dusseldorf last night and the winners were announced in a live video link with the school.
The winning company, DATice, will be flown out to Berlin on a "business trip". While there, they will have a guided tour of the British Embassy and meet the Ambassador. They will also be given the chance to give their presentation again at a UKTI conference. Before their trip they will also visit a South West company which exports to Germany.
Amanda Pleven, of the Regional Language Network South West, said:
"Congratulations to everyone at Devonport for being part of such a great evening. I think everyone has learnt a great deal during this exercise. Letting students see how languages are used in practice by business is really useful."
Rose Brooman, UKTI's Trade Development Manager, said:
"Our congratulations to the DATice company for their fantastic presentation. They have worked hard to develop a product with real international trade potential.
All the students taking part in this project really benefited from the insight they were given into the world of international trade and the crucial part played by languages.
"The work that the students have done really echoes the real-life processes that many new and fledgling exporters undertake with the support of UKTI. UKTI offers a range of services to help businesses develop their international trade, including market research, developing international trade strategies and training. These students will benefit on a small scale from an insight into those services."
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