2,100 West Midlands teenagers are launching into business with Young Enterprise
More than 2,100 West Midlands pupils are meeting the challenge of growing youth unemployment by running their own real companies for a year with help from the charity Young Enterprise.
The students have set up a wide range of businesses at schools across the region with guidance from local business volunteers – in a move that will give them a head start when the time comes to get a job.
By signing up for the Young Enterprise Company Programme, the 2,156 West Midlands students join total of 25,000 young people, aged between 15 and 19, from around the UK chasing the top prize at a glittering national final in London this July.
But it is not just the prospect of winning the competition that attracts them. The young business people will acquire valuable skills than employers want – at a time when the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work has hit 64,000 in the region and toped 1 million nationally.
Many Company Programme participants have gone on to outstanding business success. Research that Young Enterprise commissioned from the Freshminds consultancy shows alumni of the scheme go on to earn a third more than their peers by the time they reach age 30. They are twice as likely to start their own business as their peers.
Overall, the alumni felt that Young Enterprise contributed to their skill development more than anything else, including work experience, extra-curricular activities and school.
A separate Young Enterprise Business Education Survey of 28 leading UK employers found that an astonishing 75% felt that the British education system is not equipping young people with the right ‘employability’ skills they look for when taking on new recruits.
These skills include teamwork, punctuality, reliability, the ability to apply abstract knowledge to real life problems, a willingness to be of service to others, and customer awareness – all qualities Young Enterprise seeks to foster.
The Company Programme is an extremely stretching challenge in which young people have to raise real finance by selling shares, do market research, appoint company directors, develop their own product or service, trade with the public, and compete with other schools and colleges in the company of the year competition.
Catherine Marchant, Young Enterprise Interim Chief Executive said: ‘’It is hugely encouraging that so many West Midlands students have launched themselves into business.
Our research shows taking part massively improves young people’s chances of landing a job. We are the last people to downplay the importance of good basic skills in maths, English and science. But employers are crying out for recruits who can do more than answer theoretical questions on an exam paper.”
