Business leaders from the West Midlands are to launch a new initiative to encourage young people in Coventry to become entrepreneurs.

The event at Coventry University’s TechnoCentre on 30 November marks the start of Enterprise Insight – a campaign to promote wider understanding of business among teenagers.

Around 70 year 12 students will take part in the event, which is a joint venture between the Institute of Directors, Confederation of Business Industry and the British Chambers of Commerce.

It aims to create a more enterprising culture in the country by building greater understanding between young people and business people about enterprise and being an entrepreneurship.

Students will be able to voice their views about business today, and their expectations for the future at the forum.

They will then divide into groups led by successful figures in the business world, and discuss running businesses.

There will also be stands exhibiting details about support groups for young people, so they can see what support is available to them to start their own business.

Louise Beard, a spokesman for Enterprise Insight in the West Midlands, said:

“The key messages we want to impress on young people is that enterprise skills are life skills, that anyone can become an entrepreneur and that as a society we all profit from enterprise.

“Among the issues we want young people to discuss are what business does with its profits, what it gives the community and how it treats customers and employees.

“We also want young people to consider questions like what makes a good entrepreneur, how business pays and rewards people, how it treats the environment and what makes a good business.”