Each year, we invite teams from four Drapers’ schools to compete in our very own version of Dragons’ Den. Each team is matched with a mentor from the Drapers’ Company and one from the Guild of Entrepreneurs with whom we have a close relationship.
Draper Addie Pinkster, CEO of Adelpha, an advisor to high-growth tech companies, coached last year’s winners from Sir George Monoux College, in Walthamstow.
“These were phenomenal young people. I was staggered by the diversity of their backgrounds and their journeys so far and most of all by their ability to come together to support each other. It felt like they were doing a mini MBA in three months. Our sense of pride in them was enormous and personally, being involved in Drapers’ Den is the thing I am most proud of. It should be a rite of passage for younger Members from the business community.
“Some of these students could bring a lot to some of the businesses I work with. The group we mentored came into my company and presented their brilliant idea for an app that stores a person’s medical details, alongside two £10-50 million tech scale-up companies at a showcase event.”
Addie’s co-mentor was Adam Morallee, a member of the Guild of Entrepreneurs and a partner at Brandsmiths. He said:
“We brought them to my office. I wish I had a picture because back then they were just a group of school kids. We took them from this to people who won the whole competition. They were from a school in an underprivileged part of the country and they had to present in Drapers’ Hall and then the Mansion House in front of the Lord Mayor and a hall full of successful entrepreneurs –about as big as it gets in terms of intimidating – but they rose to the occasion.
