School pupils encouraged to become entrepreneurs

Herefordshire Council is working with local businesses to give the county's young people a unique 'Dragon's Den' style business experience.

All secondary schools have been invited to send a team of four 14-15 year olds to a business conference at the Hereford Racecourse on Friday 16th November. The conference called "Three Heads Enterprise Experience" has been organized by the Herefordshire Education Business Partnership to give some of the county's young people a flavour of business and enterprise which could result in them setting up a real business within their school.

In order to create a professional business atmosphere, school uniforms will be banned, and participants will be provided with delegate packs, together with tea and coffee rather than water and squash.

The event will run as a business conference with a series of seminars in the morning looking at the wider aspects and implications of enterprise, with practical exercises in leadership and team building in the afternoon.

Working in teams, they will compete in a trading game which will challenge the new skills they have learned and encourage them to work co-operatively to deal with competitors.

After a business lunch, delegates will be able to visit a Business Start up Directions exhibition which is taking place in the same venue and talk to some of the local businesses who are exhibiting there, including the Edgar Street Grid team. Delegates will then be asked to come up with the outline of a business for their school before making a sales pitch to a team of local business representatives. They will be asked probing questions about their proposals, although the feedback they receive will be positive and honest.

If their ideas are good, they will be encouraged to go back to school and work with others to put together a business plan for their business idea, then bid for business start up funding.

Councillor Jenny Hyde, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "To be successful, our young people need to be able to embrace a whole range of skills such as team working, planning and leadership, and be allowed to explore their creativity.

"This conference will give them a unique experience and help them to think like business people. What's so good about this event is that the participants will be able to learn new things then carry them forward to the point of setting up new businesses in their schools. I look forward to hearing about the business ideas they come up with."