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We have been proud supporters of Young Enterprise (YE) in Scotland for several years, sponsoring awards and providing mentorship to the creative and entrepreneurial minds of tomorrow through the organisation’s flagship Company Programme.

This is the first article in a series that will track our role as a mentor on the programme for 2025-26. In this piece, we will provide an overview of the programme and our role as a business mentor.

Jordan, one of our senior consultants, is privileged to mentor the enterprising students at his former high school, Madras College, in St. Andrews and will periodically provide updates on progress as the student team (the company) moves through the programme.

“I’m delighted to return to my old high school, two decades later, to mentor the students participating in the Company programme . I have very fond memories of my time at Madras and have been fortunate to learn a lot of lessons in business and strategy in my career so far. Most notably in my experience as a start-up founder and more recently in my role at Optimat, where I get a unique insight into the innovative businesses around Scotland, getting “under the hood” of their business models, strategies and plans, which has shaped my knowledge and understanding of how to run a business. These are things I plan to draw on when mentoring at Madras.” – Jordan, Senior Consultant (Optimat) and business mentor on the YE Company Programme.

Overview of the YE Company Programme

The Company Programme provides a real-life learning opportunity by introducing young people in S5 and S6 to the world of work. Young people work in teams to set up and run their own Young Enterprise student company under the guidance of a business mentor. Teams make all the decisions about their business, from deciding on their product or service, branding and goals to managing company finances through their own business current account. They have opportunities to sell to the public at trade fairs, and through the secure online e-commerce platform, YE Trading Station.

Throughout the programme, which lasts the full academic year, students gain the practical business experience, enterprising mindset and employability skills needed to help them build successful futures through quality resources (examples below), meaningful engagement with volunteers (the business mentors), and skills building (such as essential digital skills).

Programme Structure and Milestones

The content of the programme is delivered through milestones. Each milestone is made up of a series of tasks, which present a key piece of content. To complete a task, the company must answer a question or submit an activity to confirm their learning.

All student companies are, for the year of their operation, legally functioning as branches of YE and must act within and in accordance with the ‘Operating Framework’. This framework sets out the rules and processes the student companies must follow when setting up and running their company. This is to protect both the company and YE from breaking UK laws governing companies and charities (which YE is). The framework details legal requirements, types of student company, insurance cover, finances, product approval, online sales, charitable giving and winding up fees for all student companies.

2024-25 Company Programme milestones

While the milestones provide a suggested journey to follow, the order outlined above (for the 2024-25 programme) is not designed to be rigid but, rather, serves as a guide that can be dipped in and out of. The company can do this by interacting with the milestone numbers from the progress bar in their account on the Company Connect website, which allows both student companies and mentors to share and track progress during the programme.

In Milestone 1, for example, students are asked to appoint a Managing Director. This student is responsible for uploading the completed Memorandum and Certificate of Incorporation documents in Milestone 1, Task 5.

As a business mentor, I can track the students’ progress within each milestone, as shown further below.

There were eight milestones in the 2024-25 programme which both the company and business mentor had sight of and were able to track. Each of these was broken down into a series of tasks to be completed.

Tasks do not need to be completed in sequence but each one must be “ticked” to ensure the students – and their company – successfully make it through the Company programme.

As a business mentor, my role is to facilitate the programme, share lessons and experiences, and ultimately support the company members to complete the programme and setup and operate a successful enterprise.

Business Mentor Role

The business mentor helps develop the potential of the young people participating in the programme. We support students to run a successful student company, whilst reflecting and learning from the experience itself.

Business mentor responsibilities include:

• Regularly attending weekly/fortnightly board meetings and communicating in advance if unable to attend
• Ensuring the teams operate within the legal parameters and programme rules set out in the operating framework and securing product approval before selling their product/service
• Facilitating the programme and supporting the students to complete it
• Ensuring company members understand and follow sensible financial management practices and maintain an appropriate level of financial control
• Sharing lessons and experiences to enhance the realism of the programme experience and to reinforce learning
• Responding to student queries on the messaging section of Company Connect

In addition to mentorship, we have also been proud sponsors of the annual Festival of Youth Enterprise (FoYE) awards. The FoYE is an amazing occasion which showcases and celebrates the fantastic businesses participating in the Company programme.

Here is our Director, Hayley Welsh, presenting the Innovation Award to Reconnect for its novel adult activity and colouring book inspired by the landscapes of the Highlands.

As the new school term commences, we’re looking forward to meeting the student company (or companies!) at Madras College and continuing to champion innovation in Scotland’s next generation of entrepreneurs.

Please get in touch if you’d like to hear more about the great work Young Enterprise does or visit the website for more information.