Cheshire Students impress ACF Car Finance in Dragon's Den style competition

West Cheshire College students have impressed Chester based ACF Car Finance Limited with their entries to win the ‘Outstanding Business Student Award’ scheme, created to help encourage and support young talent across the region.

The UK’s leading specialist sub-prime car dealer, part of The Funding Corporation group of companies, teamed up with tutors at West Cheshire College and developed this specific project for the Business Diploma students, offering them the chance to win a prize while enhancing their career prospects.

The students were set the challenge of producing a business presentation on opening a new
ACF Car Finance showroom in the Chester area, with the winning team receiving £500 worth of computer vouchers.

After being split into groups, the 16 to 18 year-old students had to present their creative ideas to a judging panel at ACF Car Finance’s Head Office on Chester Business Park, including Managing Director of The Funding Corporation David Challinor and Area Manager of Care and Business for West Cheshire College Christine Knight.

The teams all came up with a variety of imaginative ideas and were evaluated on the creativity of their presentations, the background research and the business suggestions made. Some students produced radio adverts and made model plans of the new ‘showroom’.

The members of the winning team were Leonna Chatterton, Harriet Fitzpatrick, Iqbal Hussain and Rachel Siddal who were chosen due to their well-researched pitch, strong presentational skills and varied creative ideas.

Their presentation included market research that they had undertaken at the college on the types of cars that customers around Cheshire look for as well as a well thought out financial analysis. They also gave a lot of thought to the promotion of their showroom, which they suggested should be located on Sealand Road, including a mock-up of a print and radio advert and suggested a launch open day to be attended by the Lord Mayor.

We're delighted that ACF Car Finance has offered this level of support for the business students of Chester

Tutor Christine Knight said, “This scheme has been a challenging and exciting opportunity for our students and we have all been impressed by the enthusiasm that they have all brought to the project.

“Taking part in the competition has demonstrated the commitment and talent of these students as future entrepreneurs. It was a tight competition but some students clearly stood out as potential Alan Sugars! We’re delighted that ACF Car Finance has offered this level of support for the business students of Chester.”

David Challinor, Managing Director at The Funding Corporation, said: “This scheme was created to encourage and support business talent across the region and we were impressed by the maturity shown by all the students who presented and the high level of their pitches. In fact, due to the exceptional standard of the presentations, we have also decided to award all the students who took part with a £20 computer voucher.

“At ACF Car Finance our approach focuses on training and development of staff and, as three students in particular stood out during the pitches, we have rewarded their exceptional skills by offering them a half-day work experience opportunity to help encourage their talent.”

ACF Car Finance specialises in providing a wide range of quality used cars and arranging finance for customers throughout the region and across the UK, with cars starting form as little as £25 per week. The company has run a similar competition in Birmingham and plans similar projects with colleges across the country, in partnership with its other dealerships in Leeds, Manchester, East Midlands, Bristol, Dunstable, Isleworth and Maidstone.