Challenger Ella Miles, who is a horticultural apprentice at Buckfast Abbey, said: "With a start not quite as early as our Netherlands trip, this time we all made our way to the Hyve Group in London. Here we received a warm welcome and made use of the smart office space and meeting rooms which facilitated our now divided teams. The suspense had been building to find out the teams that we are in as we are now competing against each other to create a successful marketing strategy for the new Begonia that we will be releasing at the end of this programme at Gardeners; World Live 2025.
"I discovered my position on the green team! I couldn’t have been happier with the team and its dynamic. We then met with the lovely Liz Dowling who is providing valuable coaching to myself and the nine other delegates. Our masterclasses this week were focused on product identity, led by Michael Perry (Mr Plant Geek) and Natilie Boynton, the other masterclass introduced us to commerciality, led by knowledgeable Jane Lawler.
"The two teams switched rooms halfway through the day so that we were separate during the classes which allowed us to feel at ease when discussing ideas without the opposing group finding out about our plans. With so many ideas to digest and decisions to make, the green team have scheduled Zoom meetings to solidify our concept and initiate our next steps before we meet in person again at the beginning of August."
YPHA Challenge
Each cohort of 10 participants will be tasked with bringing a new product to market. Their responsibilities will include choosing a name, conducting market research, calculating commercial viability, capturing photography, building design briefs, communicating with the press, and pitching to buyers, all under the guidance of some of the most esteemed industry mentors.
The programme is fully funded thanks to the financial support from Westland, Beekenkamp, Poppelmann, Floramedia, the BPOA, BALI, and especially the headline sponsor, Bred by Peter Moore.
