Somerset College

The first Peter Jones Enterprise Academy in Somerset was launched at a special public event on Monday April 30, with budding entrepreneurs, business employers and members of the public invited to come along and find out more.

The new Academy, designed specifically for go-ahead young people keen to enter the world of business, will start in September and be based at Somerset College in Taunton. It is the first in the county and will join a number of others around the country, started by Dragon’s Den star Peter Jones CBE to encourage entrepreneurial activity in the UK.

Speakers at the launch event included Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, the top British businessman who went from a poor Jamaican immigrant childhood to become a successful TV producer, then Devon farmer and founder of the awarding-winning The Black Farmer range of food products.

He told the audience about his dream of owning his own farm, after he looked after his father’s allotment and promised himself he would one day own his own farm.

Grant Ridley, National Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 at Peter Jones' Enterprise Academy, was the other guest speaker at the launch event.

The one year Peter Jones Enterprise Academy course will start this September, and is open to students aged 16 – 19, who will pitch for their places, with only 20 initially chosen, and other adult courses will also be run. They will be expected to dress for business, work a full working week based in their own office space at the College’s Hot House business unit, and have a totally ‘can do’ attitude. They will gain a Level 3 Diploma in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (equivalent to two A levels), the first qualifications of their kind

Caption: Sitting, left to right - Rachel Davies, Principal of Somerset College, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones of The Black Farmer, Sue Parker, Director of Enterprise and External Relations at Somerset College.

Back, left to right - visitors to the event, brothers Daniel and Richard Murphy, Grant Ridley, Peter Jones Enterprise Academy’s National Entrepreneur of the Year 2011, Adam Francis, Commercial Manager at Somerset College.