NOT CONTENT with spending the next year working hard on their A-level studies, a group of sixth formers wants to earn some extra cash by setting up and running their own company.
Fired up after landing an order from ferry company DFDS for their first French activity book, Horizon Languages, as the fledgling company is known, is looking to expand its range and bring out e-books and apps too.
This week the six students are taking time out of lessons at Moulsham High School in Chelmsford to talk to business advisers so they can sort out the paperwork involved with becoming a proper company.
"We were pleased by working as a Young Enterprise company last year," explained managing director David Eastham, 16.
"We were thrilled to get the support of DFDS. We did not want to just give it up as our as Young Enterprise time is over, so we decided to carry on and invest our time and energy in increasing sales and producing a wider range of products."
Young Enterprise is an annual contest in which budding entrepreneurs at schools across the county set up their own businesses to see which can turn the most profit and be crowned the winners.
Tayla Morhall, 16, came up with the idea of Pierre's Week – an A5-sized reading and activity book aimed at helping youngsters aged five-plus learn basic French vocabulary – during last year's summer holiday when she spent time helping keep her younger siblings and cousins amused.
"I came back to school with this idea and we had a brainstorming session and decided it was the best," she said.
"We each wrote a section of the book and then handed it all over to Tom, who put the design of the book together."
Tom Reader, 16, explained: "I used Microsoft Publisher to come up with cartoon animal designs which I thought would appeal to children and then designed each page based on the characters."
The company found publishers who made 250 copies and they also successfully applied for an ISBN number – an essential for any 'real' book.
Out of 50 e-mails sent out by David to various booksellers and travel companies – one responded – DFDS. He said: "I had to read the e-mail a few times before it sank in. The lady at DFDS had been part of Young Enterprise herself so understood what we were trying to do."
