Teens offered chance to be 'The Apprentice'

Special business camps run by local companies are to be set up for teenagers under a radical new government scheme. Under the proposals, which are expected to be introduced in two years, every teenager in the country will get the chance to launch a business career by attending the summer schools.

Special business camps run by local companies are to be set up for teenagers under a radical new government scheme. Under the proposals, which are expected to be introduced in two years, every teenager in the country will get the chance to launch a business career by attending the summer schools.

The scheme, devised by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, was inspired by Sir Alan Sugar, the millionaire businessman and star of the BBC2 television programme The Apprentice.

The courses have been designed for pupils aged between 12 and 18 and will include lectures in drawing up business plans and securing bank loans.

The Chancellor is understood to have come up with the idea after hearing Sir Alan address an audience of teenagers in the direct and flamboyant style which has become his trademark.

The summer business camps plan will need substantial funding, so it is not likely to begin before 2007.