ENTERPRISING students from Orton Longueville School in Peterborough will be showing they’ve got what it takes to be the entrepreneurs of the future when they network with the city’s business community at this year’s Business Focus exhibition.

The group of students, who are aged between 11 and 16, are all taking part in the Young Chamber programme which encourages young people to devise and manage enterprising projects.

They will be manning their own exhibition stand at the event on Friday 9 October and will be taking the opportunity to brush up their networking skills and promote some of the projects currently in the Young Chamber pipeline to businesses from across Peterborough.

Katie Hart, who facilitates the Young Chamber project on behalf of Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce, said: “You often hear people say that the students of today are the employees and employers of tomorrow, but what do they actually do about it? The Young Chamber is a programme which is designed to address this gap and works to bring schools, students and businesses together for mutual benefit.

“The creativity, enthusiasm and ingenuity that students have demonstrated proved to be an asset to businesses who work with them, but also to Peterborough as a whole. It shows us to be a positive, innovative and developing city which genuinely believes and invests in its future workforce.”

Steph McNeish, Business and Enterprise Co-ordinator at Orton Longueville School, added: “Orton Longueville students are looking forward to representing the Young Chamber at Business Focus 2009. The Young Chamber at OLS is a decision-making forum, representing the student body. The Young Chamber Council manage issues which support and develop awareness of enterprise, the economy and work-related learning.
“The opportunity of being a Young Chamber school perfectly complements Orton Longueville School’s Business and Enterprise Status and the Business Focus event will allow the students to engage with businesses in the Peterborough area and practice their networking skills whilst developing their communication skills and building their confidence.”