Young people from Wigan Youth Zone’s ‘Get a Job’ employability skills course shortlisted for £2,000 cash prize.

Young people put their heads together during a youth enterprise project at Wigan Youth Zone and began developing ‘Tether’ – an app designed to find your friends quickly. After much planning, research and pitching their product, the group are now one of 10 shortlisted organisations competing for a £2,000 prize, to be used an as initial investment to develop their idea.

The idea came from young people’s experiences of visiting events and losing sight of their friends. The app allows users to share their location with approved friends during festivals and outdoor events.

With the slogan ‘Friends that tether together, stay together’ the app aims to keep users connected and safe using GPS tracking.

The competition is held by The White Room, who provide training and apprenticeships for all companies working in or with digital media. The winning idea will be announced at the awards ceremony on 20th July 2017.

Greg Wynter, Employability Head of Department at Wigan Youth Zone said:

“We have just completed the eighteenth cohort of ‘Get A Job’ and we’ve had some brilliant ideas generated during the Enterprise Project in the past. The ‘tether’ app is another great example of what young people can achieve when given support and guidance.

To be shortlisted for the award is a great achievement for the young people and will hopefully inspire them to continue exercising their entrepreneurial skills.”

‘Get A Job’ is a network project supported by Accenture Foundation UK. Running across the network at: Mahdlo (Oldham), The Factory (Manchester), Wigan Youth Zone and Blackburn Youth Zone the project aims to help young people aged 16-19 years old get the right skills to secure employment.

The project, co-ordinated by OnSide, is particularly distinct as it will allow our Youth Zones to support young people who are not in education, employment or training, as well as young people deemed ‘at risk’ or ‘hard to reach’, as well as those from deprived backgrounds.