Students at a Colchester school specialising in business and enterprise studies have heard it from the horse's mouth.

The school, St Benedict's Catholic College, used its extra £150,000 specialist funding to set up a business and enterprise suite.

And to formally open it, they invited Sophi Tranchell, who started her own business at the age of 18 and is now chief executive of the Divine Chocolate Company.

The company operates a fair trade policy and pays a fair price for its product to the cocoa bean growers in Ghana. The chocolate is now on sale at many major supermarkets.

She is an ex-student of St Benedict's head teacher, Alan Whelan who said: "The school runs a non-profit making fair trade shop and Sophi was felt to be a good role model to give them the benefit of her experience."

The 800 students at the college will at some time during their schooling there take classes in business studies, in addition to their normal national curriculum work.

Published Thursday July 1, 2004

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