TV Dragon Launches Search for School Entrepreneurs

Peter Jones launches Tycoon In Schools

Star of BBC’s Dragon’s Den and serial entrepreneur Peter Jones has today announced a brand new enterprise competition in schools to inspire Britain’s young people to start their own business.

In response to repeated calls for a national enterprise challenge in schools, the new Tycoon in Schools campaign will help drive forward the entrepreneur’s mission to put enterprise at the heart of the education system in Britain.

Following Prime Minister David Cameron’s pledge in March 2011 to offer support for every school in England to run its own business, Jones announced plans to launch a nationwide enterprise competition in schools in October 2011, and announced the launch of Tycoon in Schools today.

The competition kicks-off in November, with money being loaned to schools so that young people can launch their own venture. The Carphone Warehouse entrepreneur is personally investing £100,000 of his own cash into the programme, with pupils invited to pitch their business ideas to their tutor for seed funding, in order to kick-start their business and put them on the road to making money.

From 1st November participating students will have one month to start a business, make a profit and realise their entrepreneurial ambitions. They will be given a Tycoon Loan to help them get their business idea off the ground and will be challenged to make as much profit as they can within the month.

At the close of the competition, students will repay their original loans to the Tycoon Bank, and remaining profits can be used by the school or donated to local charitable causes.

The budding entrepreneurs, who will compete for the top spot on the Tycoon League Table, will be unveiled at the end of November, rewarding the most successful schools and young entrepreneurs, and celebrating their achievements.

The challenge champions entrepreneurship in schools by supporting, encouraging and ultimately rewarding school children as they bring their business ideas to life. By putting their ideas into action, the initiative will enable students to ‘learn by doing’, while picking up valuable business and life skills along the way.

Peter Jones CBE said: “For too long schools across Britain have been calling out for an enterprise challenge to encourage their young people to ‘dream big’.

“Enterprise is the missing piece of the jigsaw in schools today. You can’t start early enough when it comes to learning about enterprise, and through Tycoon in Schools we hope to reach young people of all ages and inspire them to realise their potential.

“This is just the beginning of an exciting new campaign to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs to go for it. Our aim is to grow the competition each year, involving more schools and young people across the country and inspiring them to live out their entrepreneurial dreams.”

www.tycooninschools.com