Taunton School’s Young Enterprise team recently scooped the Endeavour Prize and were crowned Overall Winners for Somerset with their homeless donation initiative, “SOXBOX”.
Team “Focus” are a self-proclaimed social responsibility orientated business, meaning that they aim to focus on social issues and change instead of pursuing a profit.
Their business idea was conceived when they learned about the growing problem of homelessness in Taunton. After some research, team Focus discovered that socks are one of the least donated items to homeless shelters, yet having cold feet is proven to significantly increase risk of falling ill.
In order to address this problem the innovative group of business students introduced the product, SOXBOX. Each box contains a ‘mystery’ pair of socks in different colours and patterns. For every SOXBOX sold, they donate a pair of thermal socks to the local homeless charity ARC (formerly known as Taunton Association for the Homeless).
Managing Director and Year 12 student Andrei Akimov said “We have already had successful trade stands in the Orchard Shopping Centre in Taunton and at Clark’s Village in Street. Last week we successfully launched the product in School, selling out in just two days! It was great to be at the Taunton Festival selling SOXBOX, and even more satisfying to be recognised with the award for Endeavour and the Overall Winners for Somerset.”
A spokesperson at ARC said: “We are delighted to be receiving support from Focus, helping us to provide thermal socks for our clients. What Focus are doing will not only assist us in keeping our clients warm but will also raise the awareness of our homeless community and show that every little helps.”
Team Focus will now go on to represent Somerset with their SOXBOX in the South West Finals in Exeter in June.
