Young entrepreneurs show off their wares (From Wiltshire Times)

Young entrepreneurs show off their wares

9:38am Tuesday 3rd February 2009

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TWELVE teams of young entrepreneurs from schools in Wiltshire put their business acumen to the test at a public event on Saturday.

The Young Enterprise trade fair, held in The Shires shopping centre in Trowbridge, was hailed a great success by organisers.

The teams of students from schools including St Augustine’s Catholic College in Trowbridge and George Ward School in Melksham have created their own companies with marketable products which they were able to sell to members of the public over the weekend.

The Young Enterprise initiative will see all the teams compete in an area final at Devizes Town Hall on May 5 and the winning team will go on to the county finals where they will compete against others in Wiltshire.

The winner of the county final will go on to the south west regional finals and the successful team will then compete nationally.

Ian Storey, a member of the Young Enterprise board for central Wiltshire, was at Saturday’s event.

He said: “It went down very well. One woman, who had been a pupil at George Ward School stopped to tell us she wished there had been something like this when she was a pupil.”

Although all the teams will compete in the areas finals, the overall winner of the trade fair was Entree from St Augustine’s, who make and sell shaped and engraved signs.

Mr Storey said one woman, who said she owned several guest houses, stopped and bought several signs on the day.

Entree also secured the under 16s title, while the over 16s winners were Thread Shed, from George Ward, who make personalised British made garments, while Clix, also from George Ward, won the Labyrinth Service Excellence Cup.

Mr Storey said: “The standard of the pupils’ presentations at Saturday’s fair was extremely high and the judges found it very difficult indeed to pick a winner, but the winners have to be chosen.

“Everyone enjoyed taking part and some of the teams managed to sell quite a considerable amounts of goods, which gives them a lot of satisfaction.”

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