And the winner is .... Sambar Jewellery! Congratulations to five of our entrepreneurial Sixth Form students, who have won the overall prize in Peter Jones’s national enterprise competition, Tycoon. The group attended a special ceremony at Tobacco Docks, London, today (Friday 23 September), where they were presented with a cheque for £1000 and a trophy by former Dragon's Den contestant Levi Roots. Back in 2007 Levi asked the Dragons for £50,000 to turn his Reggae Reggae sauce into a business - and now has a hugely successful food and drink empire.

The girls impressed the Dragons’ Den stars with their range of rings, necklaces, and bracelets, designed to help people who struggle with conditions such as stress, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The rings feature a spinning band which helps individuals relieve stress as they rotate the bead.

Anna, Claudia, Lucia, Maisy and Poppy marketed their products through social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Depop, as well as holding sales in School at break and lunchtime. Additional revenue was achieved via pop-up shops based around seasonal events such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas. Their total net profit was £829.

The competition entailed three rounds of judging, with over 300 student businesses taking part across the UK - Sambar was one of only 6 teams chosen to go through to the final.

Sambar Managing Director, Claudia, 18, said: "Balancing schoolwork and running a business is a large undertaking, and we all supported each other to share the workload. We learnt the importance of interacting with customers in person in order to create a buzz about the business and build a social media following. We were really pleased to meet our business plan aim of donating to charity for the Christmas shoebox appeal and the DEC Ukraine humanitarian appeal."

Kimbolton School Head of Business and Economics, Mrs Jacqui Powell, added: “In only our school’s second year of entering the contest, I’m thrilled that one of our teams has taken the Tycoon title. I’ve been really impressed with the girls’ creativity, planning, entrepreneurship, and teamwork. They thoroughly deserve their success - we all wish them well.”

Tycoon is a unique national enterprise competition for students aged 6 to 18. Each participating team writes a business plan, is lent money (repayable when the company breaks even), starts a business and competes with other student companies across the UK.