Withernsea High School’s year 9 cohort benefited from the knowledge and experience of Adam Corbally, a former market trader turned property investor, workshop facilitator and part-time TV star, as he challenged them to explore their own business ideas.

Students were tasked with creating a product or service designed to enhance quality of life and benefit their community and/or the environment. Ideas included life insurance provision for under 35s, the creation of a charity to supply revision guides for school pupils, and a clothing company specialising in the sale of rebranded and repurposed fashion.

The winning application addressed the dietary management needs of users with medical conditions, such as food allergies and dementia. Key features included meal reminders, integrated shopping lists for easy ordering, and a barcode scanner to monitor purchases and minimise food waste.

Adam Corbally, workshop facilitator, said: “It was my pleasure to visit Withernsea High again and deliver my enterprise challenge to students who were fantastic throughout. They understood the assignment and rose to the challenge, coming up with amazing ideas, working in teams and stepping out of their comfort zones to present their ideas to judges in front of the whole year group.

“Every team had a brilliant idea and wanted to present to their peers. It was incredible to see the students grow their skills in teamwork, listening, creative thinking and public speaking as the day went on. There was some amazing work, a great atmosphere and positive attitudes all round. I can’t wait to come back.” 

Viki Foster, school careers leader, added: “As always, it was lovely to welcome Adam back to the school – this time delivering an enterprise workshop alongside his trademark motivational speech. This was one of the most successful enterprise days that we’ve hosted, and the students absolutely shone. Any number of their ideas could have won and it’s great to know that we have some budding entrepreneurs in the school.

“Opportunities such as these are crucial for developing essential employability skills which will stay with the students throughout their careers journey. I was particularly impressed by the sheer number of students willing to face their fears and stand up and present their ideas to their peers. I would like to thank Adam for delivering a great day.”

Year 9 student, Alfie F, said: “I really enjoyed it. How Adam explained where he started, and how he got to where is now, was really interesting. He talked us through the bad bits as well as all the good bits and gave us an honest life story. Adam’s advice for presenting was really useful too. I liked the fact he explained how we could control our breathing to calm our nerves and taught us how to project our voices when presenting. I found the whole thing really inspirational.”

Setting the scene ahead of the workshop, Adam shared his personal experience of making the wrong choices at a young age, the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people and not being afraid to ask for help.

After leaving school with no qualifications, he found himself on a downward trajectory that resulted in a short spell in a youth offenders’ institute. This became the catalyst needed to bring about positive change, resulting in a return to education and success as an independent greengrocer

With a growing appetite for business and entrepreneurship, and a desire to push himself further, Adam applied for a place on series eight of BBC reality show The Apprentice. A successful application led to an 11-week stint on the programme before he was fired for poor presentation skills in the penultimate challenge of the contest.

Leaving the show with rare praise from Lord Sugar, who requested that he ‘keep in touch’, Adam used his failure as an opportunity to better himself by practising his public speaking and presentation skills. This ultimately led to him becoming a member of the Professional Speaking Association and the creation of his own motivational speaking company in 2012.

Since then, Adam has delivered enterprise workshops and his keynote aspirational speech to a variety of different business and educational establishments across the UK, reaching over 500,000 people – many of them secondary school and college students.

ABOVE: Motivational speaker and former ‘Apprentice’ star, Adam Corbally, delivered a masterclass in enterprise for students in year 9. Adam is pictured with Noah T. 

ABOVE: Year 9 students Cole, Kale and Louis work on their business idea.

ABOVE: Awards were given for best presenter and best leader, with students who had stood out during the day also recognised for their contributions.