A GROUP of enterprising young men and women from Taunton School have have been named county winners of a business competition.

The competition, ran by Young Enterprise, sees student teams come up with a business idea.

The team from Taunton School, named 'Focus', decided to base their idea around social responsibility instead of chasing a profit.

Their business idea was conceived when they learned about the growing problem of homelessness in Taunton.

Somerset County Gazette:

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 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).

Somerset County Gazette:

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 the Focu team is 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."

The students will now go on to represent Somerset with their SOXBOX product during the Young Enterprise finals in Exeter in June.