News Article

Over the last three months a group of young people who were participating in The Entry 2 Employment Programme with NACRO in Salford and Manchester have also been taking part in the Young Enterprise Quickstart Programme.

During the Quickstart Programme the group were given a fantastic opportunity to interview the Young Enterprise North West Ambassador Ruth Badger. Ruth is a very successful business woman who was the 2006 runner up of 'The Apprentice' and now owns three businesses in her own right.

Young Enterprise North West was successful in accessing funds from The Home Office to deliver several 'Business' style programmes to learners that attend NACRO, which is a youth agency that provides services across England and Wales from resettlement to youth projects, education and employment.

The young people from both Salford and Manchester had set up their Quickstart businesses and decided to produce and sell t-shirts with logo's they had created.

The Young Enterprise group were invited to interview Ruth Badger at her very plush and stylish Ruth Badger Academy offices on Exchange Quays in Salford, which wowed and excited the young entrepreneurs. Ruth made everyone feel very welcome and started the interview with giving the group an insight into her background and to the surprise of the group she stated that she had left school with only three GCSE's and opted out of further education. However Ruth seemed to be an entrepreneur in the making as she told of how she found a niche in the market in her school, as she used to buy and sell stationary to her classmates.

One of the first questions the group asked Ruth was "What made you want to pursue a career in business". Ruth's reply was "Money, money, money, in business everything has a price". Ruth also stated "As with many young people, when I was younger I hadn't a clue what I wanted to do", however her drive for success and huge competitiveness was clearly demonstrated when she was a contestant on 'The Apprentice' in 2006.

The group asked Ruth various questions from what qualities she looks for in an employee, to which she replied "attitude," to what does she like doing in her spare time. However, the questions the group thought were most significant were centred around the upcoming Trafford Centre Trade Fair, as they wanted to glean tips from her on negotiation and selling.

When the interview had finished the Young Enterprise group left feeling excited, inspired and motivated with one young person saying "I'm going to own offices like this one day".

Young Enterprise North West would like to say a huge thank you to Ruth Badger for giving this opportunity to the Young Enterprise group and her excellent admin team for organising the day and also to Rachel Haslam from Team Academy for all her hard work in supporting and guiding both the Salford and Manchester groups.