Apprentices pitch ideas to Dragons Den star Peter Jones

Enterprising apprentices from across England were invited to meet and pitch to Dragons Den entrepreneur Peter Jones last week as part of Apprenticeship Week 2011.

The apprentices – all with a backgrounds in business – were invited to Westminster Kingsway College in London for a business seminar and the opportunity to pitch an idea to Mr Jones.

Twelve apprentices were invited by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to be team members, and their three leaders were chosen through a challenge on the Twitter social networking site.

The challenge saw apprentices put their best business ideas into only 140 characters.

The three Twitter challenge winners; Katie Sallows, Christopher Halls and Beth McKenzie, were given the chance to pitch their ideas to the panel.

The apprentices presented their ideas directly to a panel made up of Peter Jones, Skills Skills Minister John Hayes and Andy Wilson, principal of Westminster Kingsway College.

NAS, which works with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE) – aims to bring about a significant growth in the number of employers offering Apprenticeships.

During the seminar the apprentices heard from the Dragon about his business life, and the benefits of modern day Apprenticeships.

Mr Jones told the apprentices “they should take on board their learning and develop their skills further because by doing more than others you will be more successful than the rest”.

He continued: “Only through perseverance is success delivered. Aim high and when you get there, aim even higher.”

Mark Astley