YOUNG entrepreneurs from Bolton and the surrounding area went head to head in a Dragon’s Den style event organised by the charity Young Enterprise.

The Federation of Small Businesses provided two of the four strong judging panel to who the seven teams pitched their business idea to win a place in next round of the nationwide competition.

The event, which was held at Bolton College, finished with a team from Bury Grammar School the overall winners for their mobile phone cable protector product.

Runners-up were from Bolton School Girls’ Division, with both teams now going through to the North West finals in May.

Every year the charity Young Enterprise – which promotes entrepreneurship to school children and is the FSB’s chosen charity this year – organises the contest to help instil in youngsters core principles around running a small business.

This includes coming up with a product or service, developing it, and then bringing it to market. The North West finals are in May, with the winning ‘pitch’ getting to go to London for the finals in the autumn.

Bolton businesswoman and FSB Deputy Regional Chair for Manchester and North Cheshire, Holly Bonfield was among the judges.

She said: “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.

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