London schools use 12,000 lemons on international Citrus Saturday

Schools from in and around London have used over 12000 lemons in a day of frenzied lemonade selling that would rival The Apprentice as part of international Citrus Saturday. Citrus Saturday - an initiative set up by UCL to show young people what it's like being an entrepreneur - saw 150 eager teens from more than 30 schools and youth groups across London, including South Camden Community School, the Bethnal Green Academy, Streatham and Clapham High School and Westminster Academy set up 28 lemonade stands across London, from Euston to Lewisham Shopping Centre. The teams were supervised by a group of staff and students from UCL, as well as six New Entrepreneurs Foundation Fellows, who as well as supervising on Citrus Saturday also volunteered their time for a series of workshops before the day , teaching the teams everything from basic business management to food hygiene. Each team ran their stall as closely to that of a small business as possible, having been provided with seed funding from UCL to buy fruit and materials for the day. After frenzied selling on Citrus Saturday itself, the participants were allowed to keep their profits. The stands across London were generously provided by partners including Boxpark Shoreditch, Land Securities, Euston and Paddington Stations, Sainsbury's and Waitrose. The initiative is the brainchild of Timothy Barnes - the Director of UCL Advances - after he travelled to a business conference in the US and hearing of a similar approach being pioneered there to encourage young people to aspire to set up their own businesses.