Feature

Andrea Figini - Scottish Enterprise Chairman’s challenge

Published on 2 November 2020

As part of his MSc International Business degree, Andrea put himself forward for many things. One of the projects available to him was the Scottish Enterprise Chairman’s Challenge.

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This was a student competition held in Glasgow, and run by Common Purpose and Scottish Enterprise. 

Around 100 young leaders came together to develop ideas in response to a real-life economic development challenge, set by the Chairman of Scottish Enterprise. Working in groups with a mentor from Scottish Enterprise, participants heard the perspectives of a range of leaders from across Scotland.

The programme not only gave young people a say on the economy, but also equipped them with the tools they need to lead change, now and in the future. The day gave participants a real and practical experience, enabling them to broaden their horizons and to develop the skills they need to adapt and succeed.

“It was a great experience where I could collaborate with students coming from different backgrounds and nationalities. We had the opportunity to tackle different challenges, in particular I worked in a group of six, supported by a business mentor from Scottish Enterprise, to create a new programme aimed at developing soft and employability skills in the secondary education."

“We successfully presented the idea to a panel of senior leaders and we will keep in touch with Scottish Enterprise if our project will be selected. During the day we had the opportunity to hear the perspective of different leaders working in different industries such as: Royal Bank of Scotland, Roll-Royce, Standard Life Aberdeen, BBC, Scottish Power, NASA and E&Y.”

Andrea Figini

The aim of the Scottish Enterprise Chairman’s Challenge is to collaborate with other young leaders developing Scotland’s economy. The general challenge was: 

In an era of unprecedented change and uncertainty, the world faces huge challenges.  For the third year in a row, millennials who participated in the World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper’s Survey have highlighted climate change and the destruction of nature as the most important challenge of our time, alongside:

  • inequality
  • poverty
  • food and water security
  • lack of education
  • safety/security/wellbeing
  • government accountability and transparency
  • large scale conflict
  • lack of economic opportunity and unemployment

Thanks to this challenge I am now part of the Common Purpose alumni, an excellent network for personal and professional development, and I also received a certificate.

Story category Student experience