SUSTAINABILITY was high on the agenda at the Young Enterprise North Hampshire Area Final held at the Apollo Hotel on Tuesday last week.

Pupils at schools from around the region had spent the year creating companies in an effort to learn the mechanics of business and enter the competition.

Five teams in the final outlined a range of innovative ideas that had helped them make a profit.

Winners were Destination, Farnborough Hill School, whose main products was

They will go through to the National Final along with runners up Veditus, whose board game was recognised by the judges as the product of great team work.

Mello Gifts, also from Brighton Hill School, were praised for maintaining a strong brand identity and ensuring a consistency of purpose as they picked up the prize for Best Service.

Both Brighton Hill teams were keen to emphasise the environmentally friendly aspect of their businesses and in the case of Mello Gifts, the cards they produced were sold without the plastic wrapper so often seen in gift shops.

Kevin Patrick a Young Enterprise alumni was guest speaker on he evening. As someone who had taken what he’d learned in his school days to creating a million pound company he later sold, he said he was impressed with the presentations of all the teams.

“Watching you guys was pretty fantastic. The core message was sustainability. You ask me twelve years ago what sustainability was and I could not have told you. You are seeing what is happening in the news and taking action. That’s really in inspiring.”

The Team Award went to Go Enterprise, from Salesian College and Best Presentation also went to Destination,