Youth Masterclasses @ Grange Technical College

Students at Grange Technology College in Bradford invited local business people to take part in a Young Chamber leadership master class for students on Wednesday 20th January and impressed them with their maturity, skills and business knowledge.

The Young Chamber initiative is a UK wide scheme that encourages young people to take responsibility for the development of their enterprise skills and business potential. Derek Kozel from Young Chamber UK and Rachel Walker-Morecroft, Regional Coordinator for the Yorkshire and Humber region, attended the event, one of the first to be orchestrated by the Grange students, and worked alongside students on activities set by the visiting business people.

Tory Thornton, from Yorkshire Building Society, began the morning with an interactive exercise asking students to consider the various styles of leadership in business.

Event management was next on the agenda with a talk by Ben Pugh, organiser of the annual Bradford Mela which attracts over 200,000 visitors each year. After outlining basic event planning principles the students were challenged to apply these to the Bradford Young Chamber launch event that has been scheduled for April 2010.

Local business man and President of the Junior Chamber International in Bradford, Philip Cavalier-Lumley, began his slot next by asking each team of students to think of an innovative use for an everyday object and got each group to present their ideas. Phil then discussed the importance of creative and lateral thinking in business and in life.

Local entrepreneur Sonny Ali, founder and Director of the Bradford based firm MA Construction, ended the event with an inspirational talk to the students about overcoming challenges to be a success.

A networking lunch then gave the students an opportunity to impress the visiting business people with their confidence and enthusiasm.

Ben Pugh said: “The group really impressed me with how committed they were and how much they already understood about leadership and management. They were confident and capable even when faced with industry professionals. There are definitely some people to watch out for as the leaders of the future from this group”.