Small businesses may find they face more competition over the next few years as youngsters get involved in setting up firms of their own, it has been suggested.

According to Enterprise Education Trust spokesperson Catherine Swift, TV programmes have sparked an interest in the business world among kids, with Dragon's Den and The Apprentice two standout shows.

"The prevalence of those programmes on television has been fantastic because it has brought business to the attention of young people and shown how glamorous and exciting it can be," she said.

"They are a great of way of making young people more aware of their opportunities as learning about business is not something they are necessarily guaranteed from their education at school."

Luckily for businesses, the relatively high levels of IT training among today's youth could mean these ambitious new recruits or entrepreneurs are willing to embrace new ideas from IT support to improve business efficiency or flexibility.

And providing training in IT issues could help these young people benefit later in their careers, as Ms Swift points out: "No-one is going to have a job for life anymore.

"Young people are going to have to manage their own careers and look for their own career opportunities."