Enterprising students have been dressing up in super hero costumes and taking to the streets to pose for photographs across Bath.
It was the winning formula that earned Team Quick Snap the top prize in City of Bath College’s Enterprise Challenge.
Students Jack Harris and Alice Jackson showed their entrepreneurial spirit by asking shoppers for donations to have their photos taken with Super-Mario and Spiderman.
The two 17-year-old BTEC Level 3 Business students raised more than £150 by taking photos of people around the city centre and uploading them to a Facebook page.
The Enterprise Challenge set six teams of students the challenge of creating and running their own business to turn £50 into profit.
The teams of two to eight students raised a total profit of £450 through businesses such as making and selling bracelets, T-shirts, bags and sweets.
The students came up with their own ideas and had to draw up their own business plans, control their own finances and buy their own supplies.
Alice said they had “taken a chance” and spent their start-up money on the fancy dress costumes as “it was worth a try.”
She said: “We are pretty pleased with how the idea took off and how much money we raised. It was quite a simple concept but we took over 100 photos and everyone was happy to make a donation to see their photo on Facebook.”
Individual students and business teams were given certificates by Deputy Principal Lianne McCarthy at a recent awards ceremony.
Team Quick Snap were able to keep their profit as they were the team that raised the most money, while the other £300 was handed over to the Make a Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of terminally ill children.
The Enterprise Challenge was organised by Engage4Life as a pilot project, which now looks set to be rolled out to other colleges across the country.
Ian Cox from Engage4Life said he was really impressed how the students remained committed to the challenge and worked together as teams.
He said: “We’ve seen some amazing things from students; they have come up with excellent ideas and have had some great stuff going on.
“Not only have the students learned from the challenge, but we have learned a lot from them.
“It’s not just been about business and enterprise but also building on students’ skills for life; they have learned about communication, team work, problem solving and leadership.”