Students on the NatWest Bus

Bank’s travelling ‘business school’ finds local business Dragons of the Future

Karl Blockwell from RBS shares this news. Ed


NatWest – in partnership with the National Careers Service Inspiration Agenda – toured eight schools on the Isle of Wight recently in a bid to help find and develop the successful business leaders of the future.

Dragons’ Den on a 1966 Routemaster Bus
The NatWest Mobile Business School, which takes the form of a 1966 Routemaster Bus, hosted a series of business start-up knowledge sessions for budding entrepreneurs, followed by a mini ‘Dragons’ Den’, that were both specifically designed to give students the confidence and skills to help them start their own business as well as a good grounding for any future job interviews.

Taking part
The schools and colleges taking part were Medina College, Newport; Isle of Wight College, Newport; Christ-the-King, Newport; Carisbrooke College, Newport; Sandown Bay Academy, Sandown; Ryde School, Ryde; and Cowes Enterprise College, Cowes.

Travelled over 50,000 miles
During the last three and a half years, NatWest’s Mobile Business School has visited all corners of England, Wales and Scotland.

It has travelled over 50,000 miles, stopping at 315 different locations and welcoming on-board 22,353 people interested in learning about enterprise, starting a business, or growing their business.

Local support
The Isle of Wight schools tour was supported by a number of other local organisations including Bedford Lodge; Blue Sky Island Media; Coralesce; HTP Apprenticeship College; NHS; Solent LEP; Tesco; Wentworth Consultancy; and WightFibre.