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For the second year running, students from across six colleges in South East Wales will have the opportunity to participate in the Trading Places ‘apprentice-style’ enterprise challenge. The project, launched in 2013, is led by First Campus, in partnership with Welsh Government and the Morgan Quarter, Cardiff.

Coordinated through the Regional Enterprise Hub, students from colleges across South East Wales, including Bridgend College, Coleg Gwent, Coleg Y Cymoedd, The College Merthyr Tydfil, St David’s Catholic College and Cardiff and Vale College will be flocking to Cardiff to sell a variety of products at the historic Morgan Quarter.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, products will be romantically themed, enabling shoppers to purchase last minute gifts for that special person in their life.

The challenge is spread over the course of three days, during which time students will gain first hand advice, skills and experience on developing and marketing a business strategy, including researching, negotiating, buying, promoting and selling their products.

To provide a real life enterprise experience, the Trading Places team have secured Number 1, The Royal Arcade for use as a pop-up shop on Thursday 13th February. In true ‘Apprentice’ style, each team will have to negotiate for the products they wish to sell in this pop-up shop and then work hard throughout the day to promote and sell these products to shoppers.

The pop-up shop will open for business from 9.45am – 5pm, commencing with a grand opening ceremony to mark the final phase of the challenge. Local businesses and members of the public are invited to come along and support this innovative venture and view the products on offer from each of the teams.

The winning team will be the one that displays the most effective business management skills and demonstrates the best teamwork throughout the course of the project.

Chris Bissex, Head of Enterprise and Employability at The College Merthyr Tydfil and lead of the South East Wales hub, said “Trading places provides a fantastic opportunity for the students to gain experience of effectively presenting and selling their products in a real life business situation”.

Rory Fleming, estates manager at the Morgan Quarter said: “The Morgan Quarter is proud to be associated with this initiative. Three quarters of our retailers are independent traders which gives us a uniqueness when compared with other shopping complexes.

“We wish all participants every success in the Trading Place Initiative and hopefully in years to come we will see several of these entrepreneurs on the high street.”

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