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South Wilts Grammar School's team, Utiforo, winners of the South Wilts area final of Young Enterprise. DB4013P04

THE business brains of the future were put through their paces last week as teams from Salisbury and Amesbury battled for honours in this year's Young Enterprise competition.

The south Wiltshire area final of the annual competition featured two teams from Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, one from South Wilts Grammar School in Salisbury and one from Stonehenge School in Amesbury.

The teams from South Wilts and Stonehenge Schools, called Utiforo and Vizituz, triumphed, winning places in the Wiltshire county final, which takes place in Swindon on Thursday, May 15.

But the Bishop Wordsworth's boys did not go home empty-handed as Do Your Own Thing won the Under-16 award and Me:Vous, the Year 12 group, won the best company presentation award.

Utifora (Year 12) also took the honours for the best company report and Vizituz (Year 10) was judged to have the best trade stand.

Young Enterprise, which is held throughout the country, sets teenagers the task of running a company, operating a bank account, compiling accounts and making a presentation in front of an audience.

Last Tuesday's event was held at Bishop Wordsworth's School, and compered by Andy Townsend, chairman and organiser of the Young Enterprise area board south Wiltshire. He was joined on the judging panel by fellow businessmen Peter Lomax and Laurence Notley.

Utiforo sold candles, candy canes and roses in school and on a Salisbury market stall during three Christmas late-night shopping evenings.

They then diversified into tracksuit bottoms, personalised with the school's name, which, they explained, they could continue to sell beyond the end of the competition.

Vizituz based its goods on "the timeless wonder of Stonehenge".

It sold clocks, photo frames, bracelets and henna painting sessions at a village school craft fair and at Amesbury Christmas Fair.

Due to costs, the idea of leaflets advertising what Salisbury has to offer young tourists was shelved by Me:Vous in favour of Valentine's Day roses and personalised T-shirts.

Do Your Own Thing also varied the products it offered: it proved very successful at selling collapsible bowls for use on Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme trips and then switched to chocolates for special occasions.

The team which wins the Wiltshire county final will go on to the south-west regional final, and the winner of that round goes on to the national final, where it will compete for the chance to represent the country in Europe.

3:31pm Friday 9th May 2008

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