Telford to host major business event backed by Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis

The Ryman National Enterprise Challenge Finals will be held at Telford International Centre on July 4, which also hosted a supporters’ event last week showcasing the benefit to businesses from being involved.

The competition is backed by Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis, who spoke at the finals event in Doncaster, and who is expected to attend the Telford event. He will also judge the final entries.

Companies from across Shropshire attended the VIP Business Reception, which heard from competitions founders Michael and Ben Dyer, of the Inspirational Learning Group at Hadley Park, as well as students taking part and companies already supporting the challenge.

During the finals, 180 schools from across the UK will be in attendance and more than 40,000 students will have taken part in the challenge this academic year, with the winning team from each school that participates attending the finals.

Mike Dyer said: "It was brilliant to see such a great turnout from the business community from across Telford and the surrounding areas, all sharing our passion for developing the skills of our young people and getting them ready for the world of work.

“We would like to thank Global Freight Ltd, Nick Jones Wealth Planning and Telford & Wrekin Council who have all given huge support, which has given the highest number of schools participating from any one large town since our inception.

“Since the event, the response has been phenomenal and we're excited to be able to collaborate with so many new companies, helping us to enhance the employability skills of young people across the region.

"The fantastic support we have had to date, and the successful event we hosted Wednesday evening, has definitely reinforced our decision for relocating, and becoming a Shropshire based business.”

Nicole Gunter, managing director of Halesfield-based Global Freight, was on the panel of judges in 2016 and is again supporting the finals this year.

"Last year I was a judge at the National Finals in Doncaster and it was great to see the confidence and great ideas that the young people have when pitching," she said.

"I believe that it is important for business owners to give back to the community and to give the young people an engaging real life challenge such as this one.”