WOULD-BE Alan Sugars spent the week learning business tricks and skills.

The six youngsters were part of the first ever Platform Project, an innovative programme designed to give young people business skills and experience.

It is the brainchild of management consultant Sadie Harries. The 35-year-old business guru from Old Town set up the week-long course to give teens a glimpse into life as an entrepreneur.

Run along similar lines to smash TV hit The Apprentice, two teams of three were told to research and design a retail product - which they then had to pitch to two business “dragons”.

“I’m stunned,” said Sadie. “I'm genuinely stunned at what they have been doing this week.

“We’ve had a 13-year-old working out gross profit margins. Our dragons said what they’ve designed is genuinely saleable.”

At the beginning of the week, Sadie set the groups the task of creating a designed product that people would want to buy: a t-shirt, posters or mobile phone covers.

The groups, aged between 13 and 21 and split according to gender, spent a day getting to grips with their retail landscape, visiting local businesses and quizzing the owners.

Working with a printer, they turned their vision into reality.

Finally, they pitched their finished products to two “dragons”: Hazel Newson of Royal Wootton Bassett’s Dandelion gift shop and café and Old Town’s Kris Talikowski, owner of The Core juice bar.

Sadie praised the youngsters’ talent and enthusiasm: “You just need to tell them what they need to know and they’ll go off and do it. You don’t need to teach them anything.”

Tony Niester, who was Nick Hewer to Sadie’s Sir Alan Sugar, said: “I’ve been amazed at how well they took what was on offer and made it their own. I’m proud of them.”

Megan Leigh-Bennett, 13, said of a key lesson she had learned on the course: “If you stumble, you’ll make your way back up again.”

She added: “We haven’t been pushed and pushed. We’ve been able to do it at our own pace.”

Mum Emma, acting headteacher at Kingsdown School, said: “Megan’s come back every night with business homework. She’s been up late with it - she’s taking it very seriously, coming home talking about profit and loss”

Megan already had a part-time log stacking business, mum Emma said. “She’s quite business minded.”

The Platform Project will return for another week-long course from Monday August 25 to Friday August 29. The free Junior Apprentice-style week is for 14-19 year olds.

For more, visit: www.platformproject.co.uk.