Renishaw Innovation Centre will tomorrow host the South West regional final of a competition to find the best young business entrepreneurs.

Students from across the region will gather at the Wotton-under-Edge centre of the global high-tech engineering group.

The young people in the Young Enterprise Company Programme, supported by HSBC, will go head to head across three categories - best report, best trade stand and best presentation - with a prize for each.

The finalists include a team from Balcarras School, Cheltenham.

Young Enterprise works with over 250,000 students every year and thousands of young people aged 15-19 from across the country have set up and run a real business or social enterprise over the academic year.

Students have made all the decisions about their business, from deciding the company name and product, to creating a business plan, managing their finances and selling their products.

Products created and sold by South West Young Enterprise companies this year include innovative 'Hyduration' water bottles which track your recommended daily water intake, a colouring book of Devon and an online recruitment service for Cornish teenagers The companies will be judged by business experts from the Careers and Enterprise Company, Renishaw, FSB, Bishop Fleming and HSBC.

Michael Mercieca, chief executive of Young Enterprise, said: "The South West Final marks second stage in a national competition to find this year's Best Young Enterprise Company; the winners will go on to compete in the UK Final in London on July 6th and could potentially represent the UK in Brussels at the European final.

"It's the ultimate measure of many months of hard work from the students, representing their creativity, resilience and business acumen. You don't get this stuff from a text book."

Ian Stuart, HSBC UK chief executive officer, said: "We're delighted to support Company Programme with HSBC volunteers working with students across the country. It's fantastic to see students deal with real life business decisions and develop employability skills such as creativity, resilience and communication."