Young entrepreneurs the key to future jobs

YOUNG entrepreneurs are being hailed as the key to creating 100,000 jobs in the South.

As part of the Coast to Capital initiative scheme those educated in the South East are having their entrepreneurial skills nurtured throughout their education in a bid to develop 100,000 new jobs over the next 25 years.

The area targeted is bordered by Croydon in the north, Lewes and Newhaven to the East and Chichester to the West.

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Spearheading this enterprise education programme is Dr Russell Strutt, principal of Central Sussex College, Crawley who has enrolled the Universities at Brighton and Chichester, and linked up with other post-16 colleges in Croydon and Worthing to prepare tomorrow’s work force to meet the needs of new industries and services.

Dr Strutt said: “The jobs lost during this recession will not come back in the numbers that we need, so this initiative is all about getting young people to stay in education, and get them on the road to creating their own futures.”

Recently, Central Sussex College gave five teams of 16 plus potential entrepreneurs the opportunity to attend a series of master classes developed by Brighton University to get young people thinking outside the box.

Each group had to identify a new product or service and develop a strategy to bring it to market, then pitch them to a Dragon’s Den panel of established entrepreneurs.

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“Two of the ideas were snapped up immediately, with panel members fighting among themselves for a piece of the action,” said Dr Strutt. “It is all about developing entrepreneurial skills to enable young people to create jobs for themselves through new business ventures, self-employment and working from home.”

The plan is to nurture entrepreneurial skills from primary right through to university and provide the infrastructure to develop a range of new high-growth businesses within the Coast to Capital area.