Social Enterprise Academy in partnership with Lambeth Made hosted the 2023 Lambeth’s Dragons’ Den Event, designed to empower young Lambeth minds in making social change happen.
Six Lambeth schools were part of a programme led by Social Enterprise Academy that involved delivering transformational learning to a cohort of students, with the objective of impacting them, their school, and their community. The programme consisted of student-led projects that supported young people to identify an environmental or societal issue they wanted to solve and create a business plan to make that change happen.
Schools were given the opportunity to present their ideas as part of the Lambeth’s Dragons’ Den Event, which offers an exciting, fun, and innovative way to encourage young social entrepreneurs to share their ideas, develop valuable skills and gain support for their school’s social enterprise.
Lambeth students had to plan, prepare, and pitch their business idea to an audience and a panel of four Dragons:
- Cllr Irfan Mohammed | London Borough of Lambeth
- Lee Ann Perkins | Sustainable Ventures
- Daria Pulunina | Business Growth Fund
- Andrew Lawrence| SAP Concur
The dragons judged and offered feedback to schools, who had the chance to win a prize to help develop their school social enterprise!
… I had the opportunity to see first-hand the amazing skills and knowledge the children in Lambeth have, the children were aware about the issues that are being faced and how these challenges are to be tackled, ranging from homelessness to climate change. Cllr Irfan Mohammed
Each school showcased amazing business ideas and were each awarded on creating innovative ways of planning and presenting their idea. Elm Court School were the overall winners of the Dragons’ Den Event with their plastic upcycling plan!
It was great to see the next generation of Lambeth’s social entrepreneurs in action. They all shared creative and thoughtful responses to local social issues, are having an impact in their communities and have a great future ahead of them. Matt Nicol, Head of Programme Development at Social Enterprise Academy
This experience was interesting. At first, I felt nervous then felt better and tunned. It was different working with Lambeth Made, helped build character. Woodmansterne Student
Participating schools and their business ideas:
| Schools | Social Enterprise Idea | Awarded |
| Archbishop Tenison’s School | Running workshops to educate the youth about colonialism and its aftermath. | Best Social Advocacy |
| Platanos College | Redistributing government funding to help reduce knife crime in the area through Youth Clubs. | Best Research and Statistics |
| Woodmansterne School and Sixth Form | Helping homeless people by raising money with charities and food banks. | Best Business Plan |
| Elm Court (SEN School) | Upcycling plastic bottle tops and turning them into bespoke designed flowerpots. | Winners of the Dragons’ Den Event! |
The Lambeth Made Education, Skills and Employment Programme is focused on ensuring all Lambeth young people can achieve their aspirations and have access to good quality education and employment. If you would like to know more about what we do, please follow us on Twitter and Instagram.