Principality Building Society has set primary school children in Wales the challenge of building a business with only £5 with support from two Welsh rugby international number fives.
Principality and Young Enterprise have teamed up to deliver the Fiver Challenge initiative, which asks students aged 5-11 years to create, research and plan a business with just £5. As partners of the Welsh Rugby Union, to help launch this year’s challenge, the Society has teamed up with two of Welsh rugby’s number fives, Will Rowlands and Gwen Crabb.
Since 2020, the Society has worked with partners such as Young Enterprise to reach over 18,000 children and young people with financial education and careers-based learnings. This year is the first time Principality is also funding the challenge in England, allowing even more children the opportunity to develop their creativity, commercial awareness and money management skills.
During the project, which starts in June, students will learn important skills for starting their own mini businesses, including designing a company logo, undertaking market research, and planning their product or service. They will then pitch their plan in a Dragon’s Den-style presentation.
The students will also have the chance to win prizes by entering competitions for the best logo, sales pitch and overall project.
Two fives of Welsh international rugby – second rows who wear the number five jersey – Gwen Crabb and Will Rowlands paid a special visit to one of the primary schools in Wales who were previously named winners of the Fiver Challenge, to meet the pupils taking part this year.
Gwen said: “The children will find that they’ll learn many important skills when they take part in the Fiver Challenge, such as teamwork, working under pressure and against the clock – very similar to those you need as a rugby player. As a business owner myself, I can see this is a great initiative to help teach children these life skills from a young age so we wish them all the luck in setting up their businesses.”
Vicky Wales, Chief Customer Officer at Principality said: ‘’We’re delighted to have teamed up with Young Enterprise to bring the Fiver Challenge to children and young people in Wales for the third year in a row, and for the first time in England. We are passionate about helping young people to build their life skills, which includes supporting hard working schools across both Wales and England with financial education and careers-based activities.’
Teachers can sign up and access the resources for their school to take part on the Fiver Challenge website by visiting fiverchallenge.org.uk.
Lee Palmer, Director for Educational Partnerships at Young Enterprise said: “The Fiver Challenge continues to provide young people with a brilliant opportunity to develop transferable skills that will remain with them for life. We are thrilled to be partnering with Principality again this year to offer this programme to young people across both Wales and now England for its biggest year yet, helping to support the development of valuable life skills in a fun and engaging way.’’
