Primary step on entrepreneur ladder

Six-year-olds expand business network

At Blackfriar's Primary School in Glasgow, pupils as young as five are being given lessons in how to run their own company.

At the age of six they are already in business.

In this case, making cakes and selling them to teachers and classmates for 20p.

The childrens' company, 'Star Bites', has already made a profit of £83.

Under a new scheme, which has been publicly funded and managed by the National Centre: Education for Work and Enterprise, the staff were given one day of training in enterprise education.

We sold over 400 cakes and made £83

Amy Dingwall, Company Director, Star Bites

The accompanying teacher training pack helped to provide them with the skills they needed to teach business studies to their class.

One of the guidelines was that every enterprise project had to have real customers.

After some basic lessons the class of six-year-olds gained valuable business skills.

Young entrepreneurs

These skills that could be added to the building blocks of reading, writing and mathematics.

Blackfriar's head teacher Marjorie Mclennan, dismisses claims that her pupils are too young to be learning how to make money.

She believes that they were learning necessary skills that could be put and used to good effect in the future.

What we are trying to do through enterprise is actually give them other skill

Marjorie McLennan, Head Teacher

Some successful business people say traditionally, the Scots have a negative attitude to enterprise.

Tom Hunter, a self-made millionaire. and former owner of the retail chain, Sports Division, hopes the primary school initiative will create a more entrepreneurial culture in Scotland.

He feels so confident in the scheme that he, along with other business people, helped to pay for it to be extended.

What's really important to me is; yes, we can be sucessful

Tom Hunter, entrepreneur

It is hoped that by encouraging these children to run their own firm at the earliest possible age, they will grow up with a more positive attitute to business and business success.

Whether the scheme creates any more entrepreneurs is another question.

We will have to wait for Amy and the other members of 'Star Bites' to leave school before we find out.