School company puts pupils on enterprise path

Jul 24 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A SCHOOL has become the first in the UK to set up a company turning pupils’ enterprise projects into real businesses.

St Benet Biscop Business and Enterprise College in Bedlington, Northumberland, aims to create jobs for school leavers through its Benet Enterprises company.

The venture will help former students with the best entrepreneurial ideas to establish their own businesses. Although the Government funds enterprise education as part of the curriculum, until now there has not been a mechanism in place to turn classroom-based enterprises into fully fledged trading companies.

Headteacher Nick Bowen said: “Tremendous effort and money is invested in firing up youngsters to get them excited about creating their own business ideas. However, once an event or activity ends, nothing is done to capture those ideas and to see how viable they are.

“We have created a limited company that will work with pupils when they leave school for up to a year to see if they can make these fledgling ventures work. I have no doubt that this will lead to new business creation in the coming years.” Working as a social enterprise, Benet Enterprises will reinvest any profits into the company. It is also being run as an events management company with enterprise learning and conference facilities at its base at The Oval in Bedlington, offering paid work experience for current pupils.

It has won the contract to run the Wansbeck Business Awards in October and is pitching for more business.

Lyndsey Archbold, formerly of Wansbeck Business Forum, is to run the company, which expects to have a £70,000 turnover in its first year, rising to £200,000 by the end of year three.