Welsh enterprise education business celebrates milestone first anniversary

Swansea-based enterprise education resource provider, 2B Enterprising, is celebrating a successful first year in business.

The company, which has developed a series of enterprise education resources for primary schools including books, activities and lesson plans has engaged with more than 6,000 primary school children in 136 schools and delivered more than 220 classes across Wales and England in its first 12 months of trading.

2B Enterprising has founded The Bumbles of Honeywood learning resources which help to teach young children about enterprise, entrepreneurship, and essential life skills by following the Bumble Family of bees from Honeywood as they tackle a range of challenges together. As well as teaching the next generation about the world of business, the resources touch on a wide range of themes including sustainability, wellbeing, diversity and inclusion.

Primary schools can apply to receive The Bumbles of Honeywood resources and are able to access them by being partnered with a local business who can also bring insights from their own organisation into the school to elevate the learning experience even further.  

To celebrate the first anniversary the team from 2B Enterprising returned to one of the first schools that signed up to the scheme, Pontybrenin Primary School in Gorseinon, to revisit the children and discover what they had learned. Pontybrenin Primary School has been partnered with Swansea based investment company, Swansea.com.

2B Enterprising Founder and Creative Director, Sue Poole, comments: “We’ve had a fantastic first year in business at 2B Enterprising. I’ve been overwhelmed by the appetite from businesses to support schools in their local areas and beyond by providing the funding for them to receive The Bumbles of Honeywood programme. We’ve also had excellent feedback from the schools that we’ve visited on how children have grown in confidence, increased their knowledge of enterprise and improved their teamworking skills at the same time.

“We are moving into our second year with excitement and confidence as we roll out the programme further into all areas of Wales and across the border into the south of England and the Midlands. We have had a great deal of interest of schools and businesses further afield and we’re looking forward to making more meaningful partnerships between schools and businesses.

“Swansea.com, for example, has been an excellent partner for Pontybrenin and the other five schools that they are working with. They have worked with pupils in all of their partner schools to answer questions about their business and to help the children navigate the tasks that we set for them.”

The ten-strong team at 2B Enterprising deliver lessons in schools as well as develop the relationships between businesses and schools. The package is attractive to schools as enterprise education is on the new Welsh curriculum and The Bumbles of Honeywood satisfies this requirement. All resources are bilingual and 2B Enterprising has dedicated Welsh speaking delivery officers.

Jacob Hughes, Group Managing Director of Swansea.com comments: “It was great to be involved in the 2B Enterprising first anniversary celebrations today at Pontybrenin Primary School. We have really valued our involvement with all of the schools and our team has had a great sense of satisfaction from helping to shape the next generation of entrepreneurs. It’s been fantastic to share our passion for business with the children and answer their questions about what we do. We’ve been amazed at how talented and creative they are and we’re looking forward to working with them again as we continue our relationship with 2B Enterprising and the schools.”

Mr Philip Williams, Headteacher at Pontybrenin Primary School adds: “We’ve been impressed by the quality and originality of The Bumbles of Honeywood resources. They’re easy to use and the lessons delivered by the 2B Enterprising team have captured the imagination of our pupils as they navigate problem-solving, team-working and creative thinking. We’re grateful to Swansea.com for partnering with us and we look forward to more of our children accessing The Bumbles of Honeywood as the school year progresses.”

In the last year, 2B Enterprising has engaged with more than 90 corporate partners in sectors as diverse as construction, hospitality, finance, technology, retail and tourism. Businesses including Bluestone Resorts, Sony, Safety Letterbox Company and CK Foodstores have supported schools throughout south Wales.

Lead image:
Back row – Jacob Hughes (Swansea.Com), Jayne Brewer (CEO of 2B Enterprising), Richard Jones (Deputy Headteacher) and Julie Thomas (Year 1/2 teacher).
Front row – Pupils from Pontybrenin Primary School.