Who would have thought that given the choice to spend time away from school, students would voluntarily choose to walk back through their school gates? Well that’s exactly what the students at St Matthew Academy in Lewisham did during their half-term.

Dressed in smart attire, 78 students aiming to become future businesswomen, returned to school to take part in a speed-mentoring evening hosted by the Twenty Ten Club, an award-winning business networking organisation for Black female entrepreneurs founded by Octavia Goredema.
 

With their clipboards and pens, the girls had a chance to ask as many questions as they could to the entrepreneurs,  who included Vanessa Wallace, owner of a range of handmade vegan friendly skincare products, and events management company owner Cay Moore.

Jessica Huie, Managing Director of Colorblind Cards & JHPR was also there. She inspired the girls when she last spoke at the Academy’s International Women’s Day event in March, and her attendance was welcomed by many of the girls.

I spotted one young girl grinning proudly that she had filled two sides of A4 with answers to her questions, while savvy Year 10 student Georgina Barr even took away some business cards. “I’ve got a couple of business cards from some people, so I will get in touch with them and do some work experience,” said Georgina.

She went on to say that finding out how people have gone from one stage of their lives to another, how they changed completely from where they were to where they are now, make “me think that I can be there in a couple of years.”

Fellow classmate Nataliya Bichard had similar thoughts: “I spoke to a lot of people that started their own business online and it’s inspired me to do that as well.”

It was truly interesting to see and hear adults getting grilled for their top tips for success. I asked Sharon Gaisie, Founder of SAG Media Ltd how she felt after the speed-mentoring and she said: “What I found really interesting was that it took me right back to being at school and it also makes you appreciate the journey that you’ve come on as well.

“By telling other people what you have done, you realise and think: ‘wow, I actually have done all of this’ and it’s quite an encouragement to myself because sometimes it can be really hard.”

During the event Twenty Ten Club launched their ‘Interview an Entrepreneur School programme’. Through this programme, schools will be given the chance to nominate students to conduct interviews with black female entrepreneurs who they admire.

Members of St Matthew Academy’s Year six press team who are already taking part in the programme, received certificates of achievement from Ms. Goredema.

To round-off the mentoring session, students got the opportunity to engage in an informal networking session with the business owners, including Barbara Lindsay MBE. The Senior Policy Advisor to the Government Equalities Office had kicked off the evening with an inspirational speech about her life and work.

St Matthew Academy is the leading enterprise school in Britain, encouraging and championing students from the age of three to 16 to develop their business and enterprising skills.

For further information about St Matthew Academy, please visit www.stmatthewacademy.co.uk.

To find out about how to join the Twenty Ten Club and benefit from their monthly networking events, please log on to www.twentytenclub.com.
 

By Chinwe Ojielo