A group of six entrepreneurial college students from Coleg Gwent have won the opportunity to run their own pop-up Christmas boutique this December in Cardiff’s Morgan Quarter, following a competition run by First Campus and Big Ideas Wales.

The Enterprise Skills Day, which was held at Cardiff City Stadium, brought together 120 of the most entrepreneurial college students from across south Wales and set them a series of skills based challenges to determine which of them would go on to manage stalls in a pop-up Christmas boutique in Cardiff city centre – in an initiative known as ‘Trading Places’.

The Coleg Gwent winners will go on to manage a number of festive stalls at the ‘Trading Places’ Christmas boutique. The stalls will be operated by six teams of six students, with each student in a team hailing from a different college from across south Wales. Other colleges participating in the event are Bridgend College, Cardiff and Vale College, Coleg y Cymoedd and St David’s Catholic College.

Guy Lacey, Principal at Coleg Gwent, said: “Events like Big Ideas Wales’ Enterprise Skills Day and Trading Places give our students a unique opportunity to learn from established Welsh entrepreneurs and test their innovation, creativity and fortitude in a competitive business context.

“Working collaboratively with students from other colleges, formulating entrepreneurial ideas of their own, and facing some very real challenges equips them with vital real world skills – all of which is integral in aiding their personal development.”

Housed within Cardiff’s Morgan Quarter, this UK award winning project has helped inspire a change in business strategy for the privately owned arcade, who have hosted previous Big Ideas Wales events.