The entrepreneurial spirit is thriving at Downe House with over 40 girls involved in four Young Enterprise companies this year. One of the companies called Shuffle has designed and produced a range of pyjamas carrying a strong message about the impact of insomnia which affects nearly a third of the UK population.

Lower Sixth Form girl, Tilly reports on the progress they have made so far,

“Our Young Enterprise student company is called Shuffle and comprises a team of 15 girls. We came up with the idea of selling female pyjamas to try and raise awareness of the sleep disorder, insomnia. The problems caused by insomnia are far-reaching with one in three people being affected and 80% of those people also suffer from mild depression as a consequence. Insomnia is incurable and so with each pair of pyjamas that we sell, we will be attaching a small information card to explain what insomnia is, and to let those who are suffering know that they are not alone. The beauty of our strategy is that for each pyjama set we sell, another human being will learn more about insomnia and so we feel that this adds a positive moral and social aspect to each purchase.

In order to fund the manufacture of our pyjamas, we have sold sleep-related products at School events and at the Kennet Centre in Newbury. This has successfully enabled us to purchase 75 sets of pyjamas in our own design. Our product is being produced in Bulgaria and we are expecting our delivery very soon.

If you are interested in following our progress or would like to pre-order a pair of pyjamas, follow us on Instagram @shuffle_ye, or on Facebook Shuffle YE or email us at shuffleye@outlook.com. If you are coming to Founder’s Weekend, please look out for us as we will be manning a stall selling our pyjamas.”

Young Enterprise is the UK’s leading enterprise and financial education charity reaching over 250,000 young people every year. The Company scheme aims to help young people make the connection between school and the world of work, enabling them to develop the knowledge and attitudes they need to succeed in business

Find out more about the Young Enterprise programme at Downe House.