South London Press, Friday, October 10, 2014
News
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FLIPPING MARVELS: From far left, Julia Frasineanu, Freya Coleman, Jack Lilley and Oliver Palmer; above, Paul and Rob Forkan
Starting off on the right foot
A FLIP-FLOPS company transformed its South London headquarters into an art studio to host a group of budding teenage entrepreneurs.
Gandys teamed up with former Dragons’ Den star and former Millwall supremo Theo Paphitis to create a project in which schoolchildren designed a new individual pair of flip-flops. Eight thousand youngsters took part in the Young Enterprise Challenge Project across the country, with 20 lucky finalists being invited to the Gandys studio in Burr Road, Southfields, to bring their designs to life. The winners, from Chesham
By HAYLEY RICHARDSON
Grammar School in Buckinghamshire, will have a prototype of their design created. Founders of Gandys, brothers Paul and Rob Forkan, said: “It has been a great project that we have really enjoyed being a part of. Seeing the children present their projects with so much confidence, enthusiasm, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit has been really rewarding.” The Forkan brothers were travelling the world with their parents when they were tragically orphaned in Thailand by the 2004 Boxing
Day Tsunami. Inspired by their bohemian upbringing and determined to generate something positive from the tragedy, the pair came up with the idea for Gandys. The company donates a percentage of its profits to the Orphans for Orphans charity, also founded by the brothers. Rob said they were keen that the event, held on Thursday last week, should be repeated again next year. He added: “Giving children the chance to work alongside companies is a great experience for them, and with the support we got this year hopefully we will get an even bigger response next year.”
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INDUSTRIOUS YOUNGSTERS The group at work
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New Classes Available
Monday-Friday 8am-6pm ENTERPRISING: Finalists at Gandys in Southfields
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£6.95 AFTER 5PM (BOOKINGS ONLY)
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