Visions team wins Young Enterprise award

Visions, a team from De La Salle College, clinched the HSBC Young Enterprise Company of the Year 2007 award.

A year of solid team work by 12 Young Enterprise companies came to end on the final night of the Malta competition at the Hilton Hotel. Visions will now represent Malta in Berlin later this month, when they will compete for the European Company of the Year Award.

Visions won the contest with a new and innovative product - the K9 Cleaning Kit. This pack makes it easy for dog owners to clean up after their dog. The K9 Cleaning Kit is a pouch that is attached firmly to the leash with velcro and buttons. The pouch holds 15 wet wipes, bio-degradable scoopers and a pocket for one's personal objects such as house keys and loose change.

The Niche, from Giovanni Curmi Higher, was first runner up and DecorActive from Junior College was second runner up.

HSBC's chief executive officer, Shaun Wallis, presented the award to the ecstatic team. "I am very impressed with the range of products that this year's companies have come up with, and with all the hard work and professionalism with which they prepared their presentations. I feel much safer knowing that the future is in the hands of such creative, ambitious and determined young people," he said.

Led by Karl Gouder, as chief executive officer, Young Enterprise Malta aims to introduce and develop entrepreneurial education programmes in as many schools and organisations as possible. Through team building, and a personal experience of how business works, the organisation strives to build confidence and competence in future business leaders by developing suitable character traits. During the finals, several other awards were presented for different categories of skills in running a Young Enterprise company such as accounting, marketing, quality systems, innovation of products, business plans and use of technology. The John Harper Award, given each year to one individual student for excellence and outstanding performance within the team, was won by Lara Vella, from the St Aloysius College team Fresh.