MUMBAI: The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced that its youth-based serial Junior Apprentice would soon be telecast on its channel BBC One with Sir Alan Sugar at its helm.

The five one-hour episode series will see ten young contenders, five girls and five boys aged 16 to 17 years old compete to become the winner of the title of the first Junior Apprentice.

The show from TalkbackThames will be in addition to the main series which returns for its sixth run next year.

Candidates from all social backgrounds are being encouraged to apply – whether they are straight A students from grammar or public school or have no academic qualifications.

Sir Alan will guide the candidates through a variety of business tasks to test their entrepreneurial skills.

Each week, teams will go head-to-head starting with the five boys against the five girls. The losing team will end up in the boardroom and the project manager will have to choose two people to join them in the firing line.

Sir Alan said, "It is my long held belief that we should promote the series vociferously amongst young people as the future of our economy relies on them. I passionately believe that the key to business success lies in hard work and common sense and that we should encourage young people as much as possible."

The Junior Apprentice, chosen by Sir Alan, will win a prize tailored to his or her individual career prospects worth up to ?25,000.