DAVID HARBOURNE, director of the Learning and Skills Council North Yorkshire, roars the praises of the Lionheart Challenge.

We need today's young people to become tomorrow's entrepreneurs. This means we need to help them appreciate what running a business is all about while they are still at school or college, so that we sow the seeds of ambition at an early age.

I recently spent a stimulating afternoon talking to a group of 14- and 15-year-olds from ten schools across York and North Yorkshire who were taking part in something called the Lionheart Challenge. This is a competition devised in Scotland and now being tried out in England.

The teams had no advance knowledge of the challenge that would be set for them. They just knew that it would involve putting themselves into the role of entrepreneur for the day, and that a certain level of help would be available.

When they arrived, they were told to imagine that a German company had decided to set up a facility in the UK. They would bring 100 people over from Germany, but would recruit another 100 people over here. The task was to prepare a business case, complete with formal presentation, as to why the company should locate the new unit in York. Or Easingwold. Or Harrogate... as the case may be.

Each group had the help of a facilitator, whose role was to help the young people to work out what to do and how to do it. Teams had access to the internet, and there was a panel of experts on hand to answer specific questions. They had to consider commercial land prices, the local labour market, transport infrastructure and a whole lot more.

For most of the young people, it was the first time they had had to think in commercial terms - and for some, it was an absolute revelation. I won't say who it was, but one team started the day really depressed because they thought their town had nothing going for it. That's because they had only ever looked at it from a teenager's point of view - "There's nothing to do around here!" By the end of the day, they had come to see that their town had some big commercial strengths. The winning team on the day was from Raincliffe School in Scarborough, and they will go on to represent Yorkshire in a national final. But in truth, all the teams were winners because of what they got out of the day. They learned about team work, time management, how to work to their strengths, how to use experts and the internet to research information, how to put on a punchy and powerful presentation, and all in about five hours.

The adults got a lot out of it, too. It was refreshing to work with such enthusiastic young people and to see bright ideas emerge so easily.

If you would like to help with this or similar activities in the future - even for just half a day a year - phone North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership on 01904 693632.

Updated: 11:48 Tuesday, June 24, 2003