Dragons’ Apprentice 2023/24

Living Magazines Dragons Apprentice 2022/23 Overall winners Dingo Dollars 1

Connect Dacorum is again organising the Dacorum Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge for 2023/24. The challenge has now been running for ten years and has raised a whopping £108,141 for local charities, and has seen 645 students take part. Not only have these students learnt business-related skills but also very important soft skills such as communication, working in a team, perseverance and more.

What is the challenge?

Year 12 students from Dacorum (and beyond) secondary schools will be entering teams of up to 8 pupils as the Apprentices. The teams are challenged to turn £100 into £1000 or more for a Dacorum charity by means of business-related ideas. The team is matched with a business mentor (the Dragon) and also a local charity. The challenge starts in October and culminates in a finals evening in April 2023. Some schools may enter more than one team.

Connect Dacorum is therefore looking for business mentors (the Dragons) from local companies and invite people to put their names forward.

The Dragon’s involvement, most importantly, is your time. You will need to attend a minimum of five meetings. However, the most successful teams have met on a fortnightly basis from October to February to keep motivation and organisation going, although some of this can be done via emails and WhatsApp. If you think you could spare the resource and time for the challenge, do register your interest.

Why should you take part?

Participation in the Dragons’ Apprentice Challenge offers a win-win opportunity for all parties involved, creating the opportunity for excellent partnerships between local community groups and charities, businesses and young people, creating a stronger community over the long term. It provides a structured means to promote and encourage engagement between charity/community groups, local businesses and schools. It helps raise the profile of your organisation and the third sector in the area and it is a great development tool for an employee’s continual professional development.

You can check out details of last year’s awards here: connectdacorum.org.uk/dragons-apprentice.

If you have any questions please contact cindy@communityactiondacorum.org.uk.