BUDDING young entrepreneurs went into the Dragon’s Den to pitch business ideas as part of a national competition.

Would-be business brains went head to head at Bolton College as part of a competition organised by charity Young Enterprise, which promotes entrepreneurship for schoolchildren.

Seven teams pitched ideas to a four-strong judging panel in the Dragons-Den style event to try and win a place in the North West final this May.

While the overall winners came from Bury Grammar School, the runners up were a team from the Bolton School Girls’ Division.

The Bolton College team invented Boxers for Babes – comfortable underwear for ladies – but it failed to capture the imagination of the judging panel on the night.

Bolton businesswoman Holly Bonfield, who is the Federation of Small Businesses deputy regional chairman for Manchester and North Cheshire, was one of the judges.

She said she was impressed by how well the youngsters did in the event.

“We need more young people to think about setting up their own businesses, with new ideas and new ways of working to keep our economy growing with fresh and focused ideas, " she said.

“Young Enterprise offers very practical work experience which will help our young people to make decisions about their future in the workforce.

“The standard in this competition was very high, and even the unsuccessful teams take something away from the wider experience, so there are no losers. It was a really good night for everyone involved.”

Young Enterprise is the United Kingdom’s largest business and enterprise education charity and, every year, helps 250,000 young people learn about business and the world of work in the classroom under the guidance of a network of 5,000 volunteers from 3,500 companies.

The charity's mission statement is “to inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise.” which it does through “learning by doing”