SIMVENTURE, the York devised business computer game has made yet more major breakthroughs abroad.

Motor giant BMW has just signed a contract to sponsor the use of the award-winning business simulation software in a graduate training scheme in South Africa. Total sponsorship value is about £30,000.

Over the next five months, 100 unemployed information communication technology graduates will be put through their SimVenture bases at Randberg Youth Chamber of Commerce centre (RYCOC) in Johannesburg, SimVenture, created by York businessman Peter Harrington and his software designer brother, Paul, has already swept through the universities and schools of Britain.

It allows players to create a simulated business based on choices from a massive array of scenarios from research and marketing to finance and operations – and decisions affect the bottom line.

It means they can crash and burn over and again without risking a penny.

Septi Bukula, an independent specialist on small business in South Africa has been marketing SimVenture ever since he came across it at an enterprise promotions conference in Harrogate last November.

He made the first connection with BMW South Africa and this was cemented by Peter Harrington on a visit to the Republic at the end of May.

Esther Langa, manager: corporate affairs at BMW South Africa, said: “We are excited that this opportunity to partner with RYCOC will enable young people to develop skills which will help them start their own businesses and shape their own destiny – and ultimately play a contributory role in society.”

Mr Harrington said: “I am absolutely delighted because it endorses not only how hard work in creating and building SimVenture, but also in our desire to introduce it to the world.

“The fact that a global superbrand such as BMW quickly saw the value of our work and was prepared to back it, reaffirms that we are on the right track.

“But the real proof will lay in following up the fortunes of those 100 jobless people, monitoring whether it has made a real difference to their lives.”

Mr Harrington also reports that the software is being translated into Spanish by his Mexican agent, Abraham Gonzalez, “and he has started to sell SimVenture into colleges and universities in Latin America even before the final product is launched.

“We are currently working towards providing a full site licence to Universidad Tecnológica de San Juan del Rio so that students can learn how to create and run a company at no risk.

“Like South Africa, SimVenture is ultimately destined to have a powerful and positive effect on the overall economy.

Through US agent, Zef Neemuchwala, SimVenture is sponsoring and exhibiting at the North American Collegiate College Entrepreneurship event in Orlando, Florida, in October.

This annual conference and exhibition draws hundreds of teachers from all over the US who teach entrepreneurship. SimVenture has been sold to a number of US institutions this year and Zef is also in final negotiations with the University of Puerto Rico to supply the software.

Talks are in progress with the University of Vilnius in Lithuania to provide a site-wide licence for students. This will be translated into Lithuanian. The project is due to start in the autumn.

Denmark Young Enterprise, which now has exclusive rights for Denmark, has called for SimVenture to train up to 20 people representing schools and colleges in Copenhagen in November Finally, two of the SimVenture team travel to Singapore and Malaysia in January to meet with existing and new customers.

Mr Harrington said: “We will be in the Far East for over a week and we will be working with schools, colleges and universities.

“This trip is part funded by UKTI, and we are very grateful for its support.

“We expect the Far East to perform very well over the next two years especially as the software is taken up in places such as the Philippines, Vietnam and of course, China.”