Orange partners with the National Enterprise Academy to boost UK enterprise

Orange today announced its partnership with the National Enterprise Academy (NEA), which aims to unlock the potential of Britain’s young entrepreneurial talent. The NEA gives 16-19 year old budding entrepreneurs the skills needed to set up their own businesses or to shine in an established company. As the exclusive communications and key corporate partner, Orange will provide communications technology to the NEA, as well as offering mentoring and work placements to its students.

Launched today by Entrepreneur Peter Jones, the National Enterprise Academy's vision is to make the UK a global leader in enterprise education and give young people the best possible start in the world of business, whether they choose to work for themselves or someone else. To apply, potential students needed to complete several assessment steps which focussed more on their personal drive, ideas and enthusiasm rather than past academic achievements.

Orange believes that businesses have a key role to play in transforming the entrepreneurial culture of the UK. Orange has therefore committed to:

• support the NEA by providing Orange equipment including netbooks, blackberrys and laptops
• offer work placements, mentoring and coaching to NEA students
• shape the curriculum by setting real-life business challenges for students
• give master classes at the Academy

Orange has also provided three NEA scholarships to Barnardo’s, one of Orange’s eight charity partners in the UK, for students that demonstrate entrepreneurial flair.

Tom Alexander, CEO of Orange UK said: "UK businesses play a pivotal role in transforming entrepreneurial culture in the UK. For us at Orange, constant innovation is essential in order to achieve our goal of becoming the best-loved telecommunications company in Britain. We work in one of the fastest paced industries in the world and it is therefore essential that we hire young people with the skills, ability and drive to become the future leaders of our business. The NEA is a superb way to do just that and we are proud to be supporting this great initiative.”

Peter Jones, Entrepreneur and Founder of NEA, said: “The NEA is designed by real business people to meet the real demands of the business world. Our aim is to equip young people with the mindset and skills that modern businesses need to thrive and prosper. Our partnership with Orange is therefore an invaluable asset to our students as they will be able to learn from Orange executives and get a behind-the-scenes look at the UK telecommunications market.”