MoneySense Apprentice Challenge finalists share their experience

Mariam and Tamara Lami, two sisters from Oxford, share their experience of entering the Financial Mail on Sunday’s MoneySense Apprentice Challenge and reaching the final. The brief was to design a game which could be used to teach personal finance education in schools. On Monday 1st March they faced BBC Apprentice star Margaret Mountford’s ‘boardroom’ at the Breaking the Mould conference.

The chandeliers glittered as we tip-toed into the vast conference room at the Intercontinental Hotel for the Breaking the Mould conference, and we shared a gasp. Rows and rows of women were all looking intently at the four inspiring women, experts on the food and drink industry. As we made our way to some free spaces, we sensed the tingling excitement and level of inspiration projected by these women in business.

Helen Munday was speaking, explaining to us in fine detail about how her career took off, and amusing us with her unique degree in meat and her amazing privilege in culinary dog food tasting! Coming to the conference was very rewarding, learning about some of the many possible careers for women in the big world of multi-nationals and small businesses.

We had made it to the final of the RBS M0neySense Apprentice Challenge and had been sent to this swanky hotel to face the fearsome Margaret Mountford. In front of 350 people, our video would be watched after a filming and editing process which had taken place over the last two weeks, by a professional – Cathy Hassan. She had really done us more than justice for our presentation!

We have had a rollercoaster of a ride to get to our interactive computer game ‘iPicture Finance’ and had the honour of collaborating with so many of The Financial Mail team. We were jittering every now and then in our seats at the thought of the tough questioning we would face in front of the large audience, including our family and teacher.

As the conference was drawing to a close, the Financial Mail had decided that we hadn’t seen enough inspirational and successful people so they brought on Caprice Bourret and Hayley Westenra. They were, without a doubt, very head-strong and hard working and had the audience glued to their seats. Caprice’s discovery of the tough world of working on your own and Hayley’s true dedication to her charity work gave great interest to the audience.

After listening to two very motivating speeches, it was time for the groups to meet the judges-nerve racking! We remember vividly as we entered the meeting room; Tim Campbell was stood in the corner, stroking his chin with a thoughtful look at the laptop. He looked up at us and grinned: “The two sisters – I have been looking forward to meet you both!”. Margaret is not the ice-queen she appears on TV, but really a very funny and bubbly woman. We enjoyed talking to both Tim and Saira Khan about their role in the Apprentice!

However, we knew that after a final interview with Gaynor Pengelly and Cathy Hassan, we would face the judges on stage for some serious questions into our game. Although the thought of it was scary, we realised as soon as we stepped onto stage, that we were very comfortable with what they asked, and we actually enjoyed it! We couldn’t believe that we were being quizzed by the Apprentice masters themselves, whose questions sparked thought and interest. To have three truly influential and high profile figures take such an interest into our game was an honour, and we were thrilled.

Our ‘game of the future’ missed out on 1st prize, however we were so ecstatic of not only the £1000 we received from our sponsorship, but the response to our presentation and the many obstacles that we have combated. After the event, our mum greeted us and said: “I am no longer afraid of your interviews at university; once you had shaken off the nerves you were fantastic!”

We gained so much from this experience. Not only did we learn the behind the scenes of filming and the media industry (eight hours for a five minute film was hard work!), we learnt also about business and communication in the outside world. Our school (The Cherwell School, Oxford) were delighted with our efforts and Mr McGowan, our head teacher, spoke to us personally. “Nowadays, everyone that leaves the school has excellent grades”, he told us. “But this experience will show that you’re the full package and put you above the rest at university.”

We decided that some of the money in the school should go towards the Gcato Project, a charity set up by one of our teachers to give schools in Africa a chicken shed to start up their own business and earn money to run the school. In addition, we will enrich the science department too, as we both have a great passion for the sciences.

A truly inspirational day – we recommend that any girl looking for some innovation and excitement should go. It was a major learning curve for the both of us!

ALL Breaking the Mould pictures are being added to the FMWF Facebook group – FMWF: Women in Business (click here).

Click here for the brochure: Breaking the Mould 2010 brochure.

Posted by Mariam and Tamara Lami on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 5:13 pm.

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