Zidisha Update The Netherhall Zidisha Micro-Finance Club continues to go from success to success as the academic year draws to a close. Most recently, Zidisha students visited the headquarters of ARM Holdings to summarise their performance this year after ARM funded the club with a very generous £500 donation. Jahida Hoque, Javier Fernandez, Samiha Yasmin, Romana Ali, and Unnah Mudzana all presented to Simon Humphrey and Rosalie Tribe at ARM in order to feed back to them the results of the club. Through Zidisha, Netherhall has now supported 84 entrepreneurial projects and funded loans worth over $930US to developing economies around the world. Simon Humphrey of ARM Holdings said, “It’s great to see students developing their skills beyond the classroom environment while helping others to achieve their life goals. The Zidisha students have clearly valued the experience while using technology to address socio-economic challenges in the world, something ARM is passionate about supporting in today’s global village.” The club meets weekly where each of the students approves small loans of approximately $10US to fund applicants who have posted profiles of their backgrounds and businesses on the Zidisha website. The loans are interest-free and provide access to finance that these businesses would otherwise struggle to obtain. The students must consider the potential economic benefits of providing each loan and weigh these against the risks of non-repayment and currency fluctuations which could result in financial loss to the club’s capital. The Zidisha Micro-Finance Club will continue to grow next year when the current students become consultants to the new Sixth Form intake and potentially expand the club into GCSE Business and Economics. Please see the school website or www.zidisha.org for more details.
Young Enterprise Update This year’s Young Enterprise Company Programme continued a longstanding Netherhall tradition of success when ‘FreshFit’ won the awards for Best Company Report and Best Overall Company at the Area Finals for Cambridge. Mustafa Qadri was individually selected for the Journey Award, and FreshFit went on to represent the city at the County Finals held at Robinson College, Cambridge University. Samiha Yasmin, Jahida Hoque, Mustafa Qadri, Romana Ali, Telma Nwakor, and Evin Topalca represented FreshFit as one of five County Finalists in the competition. While the team did not progress to the next round in the competition, the evening was certainly a success with students taking away important lessons for their future business ventures and keynote speaker Kate Atkin inspiring all who attended. Mr Driscoll, Lead Teacher for Business and Economics said, “The students worked hard as a company throughout the year and in preparation for the County Finals. Representing the city amongst Young Enterprise Finalists from across Cambridgeshire shows once again how Netherhall students can work together, developing and applying their skills beyond the classroom environment to achieve success.” Enterprise-related opportunities will continue to be promoted for Netherhall students across the curriculum and key stages and we look forward to further successes going forward next year.