The budding entrepreneurs from Coleg Morgannwg’s Nantgarw campus will now represent Wales against 14 other countries in the world final of the prestigious competition in Bali later this year.

After two days of competition at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, Coleg Morgannwg’s innovative Freerunner business idea got the nod from the experienced panel of judges.

The awards presentation was made by Lesley Griffiths, the Welsh Assembly Government’s Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills, who congratulated all the colleges.

Coleg Morganwg’s entrepreneurship champion Lynne Parfitt said: “Our students are delighted to have won such a prestigious competition".

Staff recognise the importance of entrepreneurship and embedding activities in students’ core curriculum. Teams of six students from 22 further education colleges, who took part in the Welsh final, were given just 24 hours to develop a business plan and three-minute, pre-recorded presentation which they gave to a panel of leading business people from the private and public sectors.

The panel of judges comprised Chris Short, managing director of Fusionworkshop, Cardiff, Markus Matthews, RBS director of commercial banking, Joe McCaffarty, a director of Penn Pharmaceuticals, Nic Cowley, deputy director of Welsh Health Supplies for the NHS and Sue Evans, ex-council member of the Care Council for Wales. The competition, which showcases creativity and innovation, was the culmination of months of activities from several thousand students who battled to represent their college in the national final.

The Wales final was co-ordinated by the Enterprise Education team within Welsh Assembly Government’s Department for the Economy and Transport with support from Cardiff-based enterprise education specialists Fix Training Ltd.