Dragons Den Final

After winning the Glasgow Schools Dragons’ Den last week St Philomena’s Primary School has found two new investors to help their social enterprise The Philly Feel Good Factor to have even more impact in their community.

Together with nine other schools from across Glasgow, St Philomena’s Primary School pitched their idea for a local wellness centre to five local social entrepreneurs at an energetic Social Enterprise in Education Dragons’ Den, hosted by Glasgow City Council on Wednesday.

The close-run competition saw pupils as young as seven make the case for winning Dragons’ Den investment for their social enterprise – a business that has community impact at its centre.

The Philly Feel Good Factor, St Philomena’s social enterprise, aims to support the health needs of the local community, and with money from the Dragons they’ll be making an impact straight away. The Dragons were impressed with the way pupils had looked carefully at what was happening in their local area and carried out market research with different age groups.

Pupil Kian McGurk explained, “We noticed so many people looking sad and depressed and walking about our community as if they had the weight of the world on their shoulders. We wondered how we could make a difference and in the end everyone said the same thing. They needed fun, time to laugh and relief from stress and their worries.”

“We want to take the ‘ill’ out of Provanmill and Blackhill and make life better for people so we created the Philly Feel Good Factor Wellness Centre and plan to run events like pamper sessions every two weeks.”

The social enterprise was set up after an open meeting at the school - over 40 children from P5-7 attended and The Philly Feel Good Factor became official. They voted in company directors, treasurers, a sales team, an advertising team and other positions. They have secured two major companies as investors and partners, the Living Well Health Club at the Hilton Hotel and Future Electronics.

Since winning at the Dragon’s Den they have been approached by two more companies and are making plans to develop their enterprise over the next three years.

The Glasgow Schools Dragons’ Den was established by Glasgow City Council Education Services- Emplyment and Skills Partnership team and Glasgow Social Enterprise Network. It is part of the Social Enterprise in Education Programme delivered by the Social Enterprise Academy.

Glasgow Schools Dragons’ Den: Schools taking part

Abercorn Secondary School
Corpus Christi Primary School
Hollybrook Academy
Kelvindale Primary School
King’s Park Primary School
King’s Park Secondary School
Lourdes Secondary School
Royston Primary School
St Rose of Lima Primary School
St.Philomena's Primary
School                                                                                                   

Dragons

Ruth Barr, Glasgow City Council, Quality Improvement Officer in Education
     Services
Lynne Carr, Impact Arts, Chief Executive
Jay Lamb, Social Enterprise Academy, Social Enterprise Advisor and Tutor
Peter Lavelle, Glasgow Wood Recycling, Founder and Chief Executive
Mark McRitchie, CCH Development Trust, Chief Executive