A TEENAGER from Hale has been promoting has been promoting a business enterprise

It follows an initiative between The Federation of Small Businesses and education charity Young Enterprise and Manchester High School for Girls (MHSG), to mark Small Business Saturday a fortnight ago.

The not-for-profit business support organisation sponsored a Christmas themed pop up market in Manchester city centre’s Northern Quarter, where two teams of sixth formers from Manchester High School for Girls sold hand crafted merchandise.

Manchester High School for Girls Year 12 student, Jyotsna Randev (pictured left), 16, from Hale, who was part of a team selling airline-compliant ‘his and hers’ travel toiletries, said: “The whole process required a lot of planning; much more than we thought we’d need. Coming up with the right product to sell was really difficult, but eventually we all agreed and got on with it.

“There were lots of hidden issues that we just hadn’t thought about, such as getting the product to market, providing bags for customers who purchased from us, to organising a float to enable us to give change to our customers. It really made us all think like small business owners, but the main thing that the experience has taught us, is that running a business is a lot of hard work.”

Young Enterprise, which promotes entrepreneurial spirit to youngsters, has been working with the school since the beginning of the term to help them create a product that can be marketed and sold at a profit.

Two students were chosen to bring their products to the market as part of the celebrations for SBS, and where the Federation had rented stalls.

Simon Edmondson, regional chairman for the FSB in Manchester and North Cheshire, said: “This was a great chance for the sixth formers taking part to get a taste of what it’s really like to run a small business.

“The teams taking part seemed to really enjoy themselves, and all of them took something away from the event - and not just aching feet.”