First Campus at the University of South Wales, in partnership with Big Ideas Wales and the Morgan Quarter, has launched a new apprentice-style enterprise challenge, designed to encourage youth entrepreneurship among college students in Wales, with a focus on South Wales’ high street retail sector.

Coordinated through the Regional Entrepreneurship Hub, college students from all over South East Wales, including a group from Coleg Gwent, will be flocking to Cardiff to sell up-and-coming product designers’ wears at the historic Morgan Quarter.

Aiming to give students some real life enterprise experience, the Trading Places team have secured Number 1, The Royal Arcade for use as a pop-up shop on Wednesday July 3.

Rory Fleming, estates manager at the Morgan Quarter said: “The Morgan Quarter is proud to be associated with this initiative. Three quarters of our retailers are independent traders which gives us a uniqueness when compared with other shopping complexes.

“We wish all participants every success in the Trading Place Initiative and hopefully in years to come we will see several of these entrepreneurs on the high street.”

The challenge is in three separate parts spread over the course of three days, in a format familiar to fans of BBC One’s ‘The Apprentice’.

Firstly, teams of six college students will pitch to a panel of experts from across South Wales.

The highest scoring team will then get first choice of which products to take to market. In true ‘Apprentice’ style, the winning team will be those that sell the most stock and demonstrate the best teamwork.

Each student applied to take part through their respective colleges, and the six winning candidates from each institution were announced last week.

Ruth Rowe, enterprise officer at Bridgend College, said: “I think that giving students opportunities like this is so important – not only to enhance their career prospects, but also to help with their personal development. Who knows, we might have Wales’ next entrepreneur in our sights.”

Lisa Marie Brown, one of Big Ideas Wales’ business role models (who has previously worked with entrepreneur and Dragons Den star Peter Jones and Richard Branson), will be coaching the students prior to challenge day.

She said: “It is an exciting opportunity for young people to run real businesses and there are many budding entrepreneurs taking part in Trading Places. Personally I am very excited to work on this project and look forward to meeting the young people involved.”

Kathryn Maddy, First Campus manager, said: “Trading Places is a great opportunity for our partnership to bridge the gaps between education and employment in a practical environment. It gives college students the opportunity to use skills needed in the world of work.”