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The River Reader

Can you be the next Lord Sugar?

4:34 PM on Wednesday 31st July 2024
By: Lauren Game
Two young people holding a sign, saying "Double trouble, coconut & truffle".
Chocolate burn and saucepan bubble? Photo by Lucy Jarvis

Citrus Creams, chocolate truffles, and orange creams… doesn’t that sound delicious? Well at the Enterprise zone, you can make these sweet, sweet, treats yourself!

The Enterprise zone gives participants the opportunity to create their own sweet shops, as a tasty, yet educational, experience. You have to make good use of marketing material, manufacturing, financial management and the most appealing part… decorating! The sweet shop teams are completely random, letting people meet other groups and learn to develop teamwork and listening skills to create an awesome sweet stall. 

Some young people exchanging money.
Commerce in action - Photo by Ian Guy

The on-zone store allows groups to purchase other utensils and ingredients whilst educating them on budgeting their finances. Amy, who is a volunteer at the sweet store said "I get to see everyone pass through this zone, seeing everyone mingling together makes for something quite special" and "splitting the groups adds a challenge, but the teams always work really well". 

Each group was in one of four tents and were discussing their roles. Grace from 1st Waltham Abbey and Upshire Rangers said "Enterprise is a cool concept, the group I am with are very welcoming and I like that it creates a sense of the real world". Once the cooking is finished, participants then get the chance to sell their sweets to others, whether that is performing on a stage as a marketing opportunity or just using tactics to gain interest in their products!

A young person on the stage, advertising their sweets into a microphone.
"Buy our sweets!" - Photo by Tina Wing

Volunteers Alice and Flick were explaining how the opportunity to meet new people was great and "the translation between international groups was amazing, everyone helping out in order for every participant to be engaged and involved". 

So next time you are having a craving for sweets, you know where to go!

A tray of sweets
Yummy! - Photo by Tina Wing