DALKEITH pupils carried off top prize in a competition for young entrepreneurs.
The team of four students from St David's High School won the final of The Business Experience contest for high school pupils in Midlothian and the Borders, aimed at introducing senior pupils to the business world.
Ryan Horsburgh, Daniel Morrow, N
ick Naismith and Keith Thornton came up with the idea of eco-friendly coffins. They designed, produced and then sold their bio-degradable customised coffins to funeral parlours.
Twelve teams from 10 schools took part in the final section of the competition, which was based on the BBC TV series Dragon's Den and organised by Essential HR, part of the Midlothian Enterprise Trust.
Their project officer Samantha Czajka said: "The Dragon's Den final was a fantastic event and surpassed all expectations. The amount of effort and time invested by the pupils and their enthusiasm on the day made it really special.
"The involvement of real-world business people meant the participants gained skills and knowledge that will benefit them greatly in the future and hopefully more than a few young entrepreneurs have been nurtured in the process! It's fantastic to see enterprise in education is thriving in our schools!"
The third to sixth year pupils were given a theoretical budget to spend on hiring various local business experts in fields including finance, sales, marketing and technology before pitching their ideas.
The dragons (judges) included founder and managing director of fashion footwear retailer Schuh, Sandy Alexander, Tony Stone of Stoats mobile porridge bars and Brian Dodds of Jedburgh firm Baguette 'n' Go.
Other successful youngsters were runner-up team from Selkirk High School who planned to sell digital tracking wristbands for young children.
Third place went to one of Beeslack Community High School's teams who created a sun cream which changed colour when it needed topped up.
The full article contains 314 words and appears in Midlothian Advertiser newspaper.
