Transforming the lives of young entrepreneurs

Young Enterprise London has been changing lives for young people since 1963 and boasts illustrious alumni including Telegraph Group editor-in-chief Will Lewis and former Merrill Lynch chairman Bob Wigley.

Its key aim is to raise aspirations for children and teenagers, many from less privileged backgrounds, such as Tower Hamlets or Newham.

Young Enterprise London chief executive Michele McKendry said: "For kids from areas around Canary Wharf who have never been there, it's especially important. They can see for themselves it's not so bad and not so unobtainable.

"They don't believe it's the place for them but we bring them in and hopefully show them they can get a job here."

Young Enterprise works on many levels. As well as the team business programmes, the organisation runs workshops, one-on-one tuition and seminars.

The charity's operations director Roy Howard calls it "a bridge between school and work", facilitated by the volunteers from the business community.

Credit Suisse alone hosts 10 to 12 programmes in their offices every year, while Citi - both practically and financially - supports the charity's programme for primary schools.

Young Enterprise has 3,700 business volunteers from all levels supporting it - and it can be as big a learning experience for them as for the students.

Roy said: "It's always interesting to see senior City people petrified that they've got to stand up in front of primary school or secondary children - they are out of their comfort zone.

"Give them an auditorium of their peers to talk about hedge funds and they are fine. Give them a more simple subject, but in an unpredictable environment and it's different.

"These youngsters aren't afraid to fidget if they're bored and aren't afraid to ask questions.

"But after the event the volunteer will want to go again and again. It has that effect."

For the students, the system works as a brutal introduction to the world of business - particularly for the teenagers who split into teams and start up their own companies, running them for a series of months.

Michele said: "Some can turnover £10,000, others less, and some lose. We don't look at the money made. It's more about the learning process. Quite often it's the ones that fail who learn more.

"The managing director is usually the most popular member of the team but the team often get to the point where they realise the MD can't manage the business.

"In January they get the opportunity to sack the manager and many do. They learn quickly."

Over the last 12 months the benefit to many students has remained but the economic downturn has forced changes at the charity.

It has lost about a dozen of its London workforce, which now stands at about 30.

Michele said: "We've had to seriously review our structure like everyone else."

A split income strategy has helped, with the charity's revenue comprising one-third public sector, one-third from private and the remaining from school bursaries.

Michele said: "The push is now on public sector savings. The companies who have been supporting us have stuck with us and we are indebted to them for that commitment - but there have been no new corporate supporters.

"One of the things we have benefited from was the supply of volunteers, especially people who had been made redundant or companies saying we can't give money but we can give volunteers."

The impact of recession has been felt on London's students. In 2008, 90,000 took part in Young Enterprise, but this was reduced to 66,000 last year.

The charity has had to re-think a lot of its plans.

It had a strategy before the recession, which is now redundant. It is now in the process of building a new one.

Overall, however, the outlook is one of positivity.

"We're now planning for growth again," said Michele. "There will be more public money coming out and companies will start to pick up again too."

Wharf companies take an active part in the Young Enterprise scheme:
- Credit Suisse
- Citi
- Clifford Chance
- Morgan Stanley
- State Street
- Barclays
- HSBC
- BP
- Nomura
- New York Stock Exchange
- Broadbean Technology