Brighton and Hove schoolboy shows a head for business

The young executive behind the Teen Verdict Awards in Brighton and Hove is earning himself a reputation for enterprising ideas and he hasn’t even left school.

While many youngsters dream of being a pop star or a footballer, Michael Stevenson, 17, prefers the rugby pitch. But the pitch that really stirs his dreams is the business pitch.

His goal is the boardroom. And he’s already winning prizes for his business ideas.

Since he started his A levels he has come up with two ideas that have earned attention and won him a prize.

His current project is the Teen Verdict Awards which he set up with a group of friends to encourage shops and venues to provide a better service for young people.

The award scheme has the backing of the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce, the council and the three MPs for the city.

With 45,000 under-18s growing up here and 32,000 students, he’s confident that the awards make good business sense.

And the Brighton College pupil has already won a £3,300 prize to develop a product idea that he pitched in a Dragons’ Den style contest.

His low-cost simple idea could save the government millions of pounds a year and help children have healthier teeth.

It’s a straw that changes colour when it comes into contact with acids in drinks.

Michael said: “We had a Dragons’ Den style presentation where I had to pitch to 300 of my classmates in my year, the year below and the year above and a panel of five local business people who were ex-pupils. It was really nerve-wracking.”

He gave a ten-minute presentation backed up by a 20-page business plan.

He said: “My mum’s a dentist. She’s always told me not to drink fizzy drinks. They cause acid erosion on your teeth.

“If you use a straw, that’s one of the best ways to reduce the contact with your front teeth.

“I wanted to find a way to educate children. I don’t think you can prevent it. If you just tell a child, ‘don’t drink Coke,’ it’s not going to work.

“The straw goes bright red when you drink a fizzy drink. It makes it more fun and educational to teach children like this.

“We managed to work out how much the government spends on procedures to fix acid erosion – £30 million.

“They were blown away by the numbers and how much we could save the government by reducing acid erosion for a really small cost. And it has the potential to go worldwide. I won it. The numbers did it for them.”

It’s little surprise that he hopes to end up running his own business. In the meantime he’s juggling his studies with the Teen Verdict Awards as part of a national competition to encourage business ventures by young people.

Michael and his colleagues are supported by a mentor, local businessman Mike Macfarlane.

The awards cost £30 to enter one category, £50 for two and £65 for three.

Michael said: “We thought companies would be willing to pay £30 because if a company wins a Teen Verdict Award they would be able to use that to market themselves to young people.

He set up the awards to enter an enterprise competition for students. He said: “It’s a national competition. There are thousands of teams.

“A lot of the businesses are things like selling t-shirts, personalised hoodies and phone cases.

“We wanted to set up something completely different. There weren’t any awards for young people and we thought it would be good to have something just for them.

“We didn’t realise how difficult it would be to fit in with our work for our A levels.

“We had everything set up a few weeks before Christmas. We went to hit the shops with telephone calls and going in but it was quite difficult. All the shops are so busy – and then there’s the January sales.

“We really underestimated how difficult it would be over Christmas.”

He and his team are undeterred though and are preparing a fresh push to encourage firms to enter the ten award categories. They include Best Venue, Best Customer Service and Best Place for Young People to Meet.

Despite the tough trading environment, Michael is upbeat and believes that the awards will help traders tap a vital market. And may even win his team a national prize.

To find out more or enter the awards visit www.teenverdictawards.co.uk.