With a new series of The Apprentice on our screens, budding Alan Sugars are being encouraged to take up a gardening challenge posed by The National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA). NESTA is looking to find the most enterprising group of young people from across the UK by getting them out in the garden with its ‘Making a Mint’ competition.

Teams of children aged between seven and 14 are eligible to enter the competition and each will receive a pack of mint seeds to make as much money from them as possible by 2 July. Suitable moneymaking schemes might include making and selling mint tea or producing a booklet about 101 uses of mint.

Each team must come up with its own name and record its activity, including profit and loss, on specially designed balance sheets. At the end of the competition, NESTA will look at the top 50 entries, which have made the most money, and award a prize to the most creative moneymaking scheme.

With the competition designed to educate kids on the science behind growing a plant from seed, as well as teaching them valuable entrepreneurial skills, parents and teachers are being urged by NESTA to enter groups of children. Packs of mint, information wallchart and balance sheet can be secured for free by visiting www.planet-science.com/outthere/mint

The winning team will receive £1000 worth of garden vouchers for their school or group plot with £250 of vouchers for the four runners-up.