Barking school gets visit from Leyton Orient’s Barry Hearn

Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn was full of praise for a group of students who have made more than £1,000 for Saint Francis Hospice through developing a games app.

The Dagenham-born accountant visited Barking Abbey School in Sandringham Road in his role as sponsor of business competition MATCH.

Launched last September, students are challenged to produce a business plan and are given £250 and six months to run their venture and make as much profit as possible.

All the money raised goes towards the local hospice’s work caring for people affected by life-limiting illnesses.

Mr Hearn, who owns Matchroom Sport which runs the project, said: “MATCH can benefit the young people and the hospice. The students can develop their business skills and team working and hopefully the hospice will gain funds from any profit the young entrepreneurs make.”

The four year 11 students at Barking Abbey comprises Mayoukun Obe, Louise Benotmane, Tanvir Uddin and Jefferson Prince who came up with the idea of a games app.

As a mentor to the team, Mr Hearn said: “They showed some resilience after Apple knocked-back their ideas of running their game on smartphones and have done really well to make more than a thousand pounds by developing and selling the game as a desktop app. I wish them all the best of luck.”

The team will discover if they have won at next month’s final being held at Leyton Orient.

Members of the winning team will receive an iPad3 each and the chance of work experience at the hospice and Matchroom Sport.