Passionate about encouraging entrepreneurial spirit in young people – from primary school to university - Sue played a key role in the ‘Primary to Professional’ project which won an Enterprising Britain Award 2014 and went on to receive a ‘Special Mention’ at the SME Assembly in Naples.
Prior to that, Sue was instrumental in the launch of the Entrepreneurship Academy (the first of its kind in Wales), helped to set up the Young Chamber of Commerce and worked tirelessly to support the Young Business Dragons initiative.
She has been recognised nationally for her work, winning UK Enterprise Educator of the Year in 2011 and in again 2015 and being named ‘Business Mentor of the Year’ at the 2012 Women in Business Awards, held in association with PwC. She also was honoured to receive an award at the House of Lords as the UK Enterprise Educator of the Year in 2016. Sue was also asked by Edwina Hart the Minister responsible for Enterprise in the Welsh Assembly to sit on the Enterprise Panel for Wales alongside 4 other high profile entrepreneurs and academics advising on an enterprise strategy for Wales.
Sue is also the CEO of a new social enterprise Young Dragons whose mission is to inspire, empower and equip young people across Wales with the skills, experience and aspirations they need to succeed in life. The company will focus on developing young people raising aspirations for all including those who are marginalised through a range of different factors, develop their self-confidence, raise their aspirations and fulfil their potential.
The primary focus will be to engage with young individuals aged 5-25, with the aim of providing them with the entrepreneurial skills and ambitions enabling them to achieve their full potential. Sue passionately believe that by equipping young people with basic entrepreneurial know-how and show-how in addition to encouraging them to have a ‘can-do’ and ‘think big’ attitude will contribute towards their personal development. This in turn will have a positive impact on the future of the local economy whether these youngsters attain a job with a local business or decide to start their own business.
Over the past 2 years Sue has also been developing an innovative new enterprise programme for children just starting in full time in school called “The Bumbles of Honeywood” enterprise programme. The programme is a series of six educational books which explore the environmental plight of the bee population,” says Sue. “Each story is set in the community of Honeywood and focuses on the Bumble Family as they overcome different problems using their enterprising skills.
The package Sue has designed comes with a large knitted bee hive which have been hand knitted by WI members from across Wales, mini plant pots and bee friendly seeds for each child, and a mini pot of honey for each child. The package includes a range of children’s activities for parents and teachers to introduce the students to the essential entrepreneurial skills needed to be successful in life - skills that have been highlighted by the Government as vitally important for our youngsters to achieve successful futures.”
The Bumbles of Honeywood stories explore the mindset of enterprise and meets Foundation Phase outcomes for language, literacy and communication skills. They further assist learners in expanding their ability to develop and present information whilst integrating aspects of speaking, listening, collaborating and discussing.