Huntingdon firm, Mick George has teamed up with Longsands Academy for an initiative that will focus on preparing young people for the world of work.

Dubbed the Young Ideas Factory, the aim of the initiative is for groups of pupils to develop a business concept, assign roles and responsibilities, and then put their ideas into practise over a sustained period.

In all, some 300 pupils are due to participate in the fledgling initiative.

A spokesman for Longsands Academy said: “We are very excited about this project. We hope that it will give all of our students the chance and the incentive to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and develop their employability and enterprise skills.”

Each form will be provided with a £50 budget to kick start their business model, and will be provided with mentoring and workshops from departmental managers at Mick George, to advise on finance, marketing, sales and logistics.

At completion of the campaign in June, outstanding individual and group efforts will be recognised by a panel of judges from Longsands Academy and Mick George Ltd, with trips to Kidzania, London, and Ipad’s being presented. Any ‘profits’ acquired through the scheme will be donated to a selected charity.

Jon Stump, finance director at Mick George Ltd, said: “The Young Ideas Factory presents a fantastic opportunity for the pupils to engage in different activities that will be more commonly utilised in pursuit of a career. We hope that with our assistance and experience from an employer’s perspective, that we can offer significant insight and real benefit to the initiative.”