Enterprising idea for Britain's children

Award-winning businesswoman Deirdre Bounds, who founded a global travel business in her Leeds bedsit, made the comments as she opened the business school at Harrogate Ladies' College.

The school aims to nurture a new generation of entrepreneurs who will emulate the success of women like Ms Bounds.

Speaking to an audience of business leaders and parents, Ms Bounds said: "I was recently at Manchester airport. An Emirates flight was just about to depart and there were a group of about 50 children from somewhere in the Middle East. I had a moment of clarity when I saw them wearing their global brands and punching their PSPs. I thought, 'These children will be competing with mine in the new global era'.

"This is not a new piece of information but its clarity made me both shudder and excited at the same time."

When Harrogate Ladies' College opened in 1893, women had no say in how Britain was governed, and their career prospects were limited.

The independent school's new business school will give pupils an insight into the world of commerce.

Ms Bounds formed ethical travel firm i-to-i before selling it to holiday giant First Choice for an eight-figure sum. A regular media commentator, she sits on the board of three public sector organisations and is the official Enterprise Ambassador for young people in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Ms Bounds, whose daughter is a pupil at Harrogate Ladies' College prep school, told the audience: "Fifty per cent of the population want to start a business – only five per cent do.

"The really interesting statistic is that those who have enterprise education at school have double the chance of success.

"Last year, 35 per cent of all Harrogate Ladies' College girls who went to university, studied a business related degree. There is talk of legislation for more women to sit on FTSE 250 boards.

"The highest percentage of start-ups in 2010 were started by women. The economy is changing, and women in this country are taking a front seat, as their American colleagues have been doing for years.

"It is a well-known fact that if you place yourself in the right atmosphere, then success in your chosen field becomes easier. Athletes do it, poets and writers do it, so why not students who want to study business or enterprise?"

Speaking after delivering the speech, Ms Bounds said budding entrepreneurs should go out and find expert advice.

She said: "Perhaps because there's so much advice, people are not being enterprising and they expect it to be fed to them?

"Ultimately, you have got to want to do it...When you go on holiday, why don't you talk to people and see if you can do business? Everybody else is."

Rhiannon Wilkinson, the school's headteacher, said she was a passionate supporter of single-sex education for girls in their secondary years.

She added: "An absence of boys in the teenage years at school enables girls to develop their identity, a sense of both cultural and intellectual ambition, and, most importantly, greater self-confidence.

"They can try all the opportunities open to them in order to develop their own identities in a safe environment which is free from a fear of failure or from a sexist put-down."

Judith Grazier, the business school's director, who is a chartered accountant, said she aimed to introduce the girls to the realities of the commercial world and the international aspects of business.

The school provides teaching facilities for pupils studying economics, business studies, accountancy and psychology courses in the sixth form.

Pupils will also have the chance to participate in activities which will introduce them to the realities of the economic world. There will be a regular programme of speakers, combined with workplace visits and work experience.

The largest scheme running so far is the Leeds Enterprise Agency Programme. Under this project, four groups of pupils have tested their business skills by setting up a company, identifying a product and drawing up a business plan.

Harrogate ladies' college

Harrogate Ladies' College was established in 1893.

It was founded originally as a school for the sisters and "other girls" of what was then Harrogate College, a school for boys.

By 1898 its founder, George Mearns Savery realised that Harrogate Ladies' College was a successful venture in its own right. At that time, the fees per term were 6. When war broke out in 1939, the school was evacuated to Swinton Park near Masham. Five old girls, including former Lord Mayor of Leeds Peggy White, took a trip down memory lane last month when they revisited Swinton and had a wartime meal.

Former pupils include Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton (and former MEP) Anne McIntosh, and Claire King, the former Emmerdale and Bad Girls actress.

The college educates boys from the ages of two to 11 and girls from two to 18.