Young Enterprise, a programme which teaches business enterprise to students by helping them form and run a business, is taking serious initiatives to move forward and offer a richer and fuller experience for students. This year, special emphasis is being put on training.

A number of seminars throughout the year, starting in October, will deal with market research and innovation. For the first time, this will include a research fair where all Young Enterprise teams will participate, branching out in different localities, carrying out their own marketing research on the product or service they intend to outsource.

Young Enterprise CEO Karl Gouder explained how Young Enterprise is building a strategy for enterprise education in Malta. "The main goal, together with the government and other institutions that offer enterprise education, is to achieve a strategy in which a student experiences a process of enterprise education throughout student life starting from Year 1 all the way up to University."

Mr Gouder said: "Young Enterprise is growing and is taking a new dimension. Last year it was introduced in six Year 5 classes around Malta. This year we aim to go full out, targeting all Year 5 classes in government schools." With the primary programme in place, Young Enterprise aims to expand over time to include a programme at every level from Year 1 to Year 6.

At present, the company programme exists at sixth form level and at Mcast. Although students in sixth forms have always shown great interest in the programme, there were only a few students from Mcast who participated over the years.

"We wish to push further with Mcast where unfortunately there is a misperception that Young Enterprise is not meant for its students which is not the case. We are open to Mcast and we encourage students to join," Mr Gouder said.

In fact, he said the company programme is also ready to welcome an even greater number of students this year. "Experience has shown us that the company programme changes student character. It gives the students courage, determination, it develops presentation skills and dealing with people."

MIA chairman Lawrence Zammit, one of the professional advisors to Young Enterprise students, believes that the programme is an excellent opportunity for students to work together in a team and to acquire experience in facing challenges, not dissimilar to those they will be facing in their professional careers. "Through Young Enterprise students discover their true potential. It also represents an investment in our country's future and as such deserves our full support."

The culmination of the whole programme is when the company of the year is chosen, which is deemed to be the best by a panel of six judges which are largely made up of top businessmen in Malta. This team will then travel to a European country to compete against more than 40 nations for the European Company Of The Year Award. "So far we have a good track record - in the past years we have won four times and we have qualified in the top three positions on many occasions," Mr Gouder explained.

Mr Gouder explained that this year Young Enterprise also aims to place more emphasis on innovation and corporate social responsibility (CSR). A special award will be introduced for CSR, encouraging students to be socially responsible, such as by fostering the human aspect in a business.

Mr Gouder said: "More emphasis will be put on quality and the judges will examine and offer suggestions. Thus the team has the chance to go back and improve the product or service before presenting their final product. This will give the students a real life scenario, where you have to compete and try to be the best."

Young Enterprise is part of the Junior Achievement Young Enterprise, a world organisation, which last year attracted 7.2 million students worldwide. Mr Gouder explained that Junior Achievement has a programme for every level. "Since Young Enterprise is a member, we can use its programmes, adapting them to our needs, as we have done with Year 5 students."

Claude Sciberras, Education Ministry spokesman and a former Young Enterprise participant and advisor, said: "Few experiences are as enriching as the Young Enterprise programme. I have benefited both as participant and as an advisor. Any organisation which is keen on new ideas, of having its employees involved in something challenging and rewarding, and which values entrepreneurship stands to benefit greatly from associating itself with Young Enterprise. The greater the involvement the greater the reward."

Young Enterprise is sponsored by HSBC who over the years have constantly increased its participation to help the organisation grow further.