Southampton pupils win university business competition with home energy startup

A Year 10 team from Cantell School beat 310 pupils across four Southampton schools to win Southampton Solent University's annual Business Challenge with an energy-saving technology concept called HomeTek.

Students from Cantell School have been named winners of the 2026 Solent University and Southampton Education Forum Business Challenge. The team impressed judges with HomeTek, a business concept focused on energy-saving technology for the home.

The grand final took place on Monday 22 June at Solent University's city campus, where the top two teams from four local secondary schools competed head-to-head. In total, 310 pupils from Years 9 and 10 at Cantell, St Anne's, St George's and Woodlands schools took part in this year's challenge.

“At this year's event, every participant demonstrated genuine, viable business pitches with real potential, and all of them should be commended, especially at this stage in their education.

“The winner, however, truly stood out, with a business and product that tackles pressing real-world issues facing communities around the globe. Looking ahead, we aim to expand this initiative to maximise the impact that Solent University's School of Business, Law and Society can have.” Said Tomasz Lasek, Senior Lecturer Accountancy and Finance Business and Law.

Teams were tasked with building a cyber pop-up business from scratch, producing a full business plan and marketing strategy. The challenge is designed to give young people hands-on experience of entrepreneurship and the world of work.

The initiative has been led by Solent University's Access and Widening Participation team since 2021. The team aims to support progression to higher education for disadvantaged learners and delivers the challenge in partnership with the School of Business, Law and Society.

The winning team, led by Year 10 student Talal, said the experience had given them the confidence to explore turning HomeTek into a real product.

"We've loved working on this brief and feel so proud to have been this year's winners. We're ready to explore how we can produce and manufacture our product for homes across the UK and beyond. With the Business Challenge we would never have come together to come up with this concept."

Lucy Webb, Business Teacher at Cantell School said: "Thank you to Solent University for providing opportunities for our students to think creatively and collaboratively on real-life projects. It's been wonderful to see the classrooms come to life, inspiring future entrepreneurs."