It was a real pleasure, this week, to provide a keynote speech and present awards at the East Midlands Young Enterprise Company of the Year Awards.
Entrepreneurialism & employability skills are at the forefront of the D2N2 economic strategy and therefore it was great to see groups of young entrepreneurs aged 14-19 running successful businesses through initiating great business ideas, generating turnover and crucially, making a profit.
Many good ideas often founder because they don’t have a customer, yet all of these young people were able to generate profits.
Resilience, adaptability and teamwork are crucial components for employability and I am convinced that Young Enterprise provides young people the necessary assets that will have a direct bearing on their ability to secure a well paid job.
Young Enterprise covers 47% of schools in the D2N2 area and are a route for businesses to work more closely with local schools, thus enabling them to identify future talent and draw their future workforce from the pick of the crop.
I congratulate all of the teams on presenting great and innovative ideas and wish the winners, “Scentsational”, all the success in the national competition, to which they now progress.
I would also like to congratulate Young Enterprise on a genuinely inspiring evening.
DR
