A charity that aims to get young people started in business claims to have generated more than £240,000 of social value to Haringey.

The Prince’s Trust, which is this year celebrating its 30th anniversary, supported more than 460 unemployed young people across London – including 28 in Haringey – through its Enterprise programme in 2010/11, giving participants the skills and confidence they need to start their own business or find work.

New research, conducted by nef consulting and supported by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, has now estimated this scheme is worth £240,000 to the borough, and more than £4million to the capital.

The figure is calculated by assigning a monetary value to the increase in participants’ skills and earnings after completing the scheme, as well as the savings made from those people who are no longer claiming benefits or in trouble with the police.

In the past 30 years, the charity has helped more than 80,000 young people into business across the UK and it is now calling for more people to sign up to their Enterprise scheme.

Dermot Finch, Prince’s Trust regional director for the south of England, said: “Our Enterprise programme is proven to boost the economy despite the recession as well as transforming thousands of young lives.

“We want to help more jobless young people in Haringey. So many young people are exceptionally entrepreneurial, but need support and mentoring to get their business ideas off the ground. Thanks to supporters like the RBS Group, The Prince’s Trust can help unemployed young people completely turn their lives around.”

Over the next year the Enterprise programme will aim to support 35 unemployed young people in Haringey, giving them the skills and confidence to become their own boss or find jobs.

The youth charity is also calling on Prince’s Trust businesses from over the past 30 years to come forward and get involved in the anniversary celebrations.

The trust is launching a digital high street – the Enterprise Avenue – on its website to map Prince’s Trust businesses across the UK. To sign-up to The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Avenue, go to www.princes-trust.org.uk/30Enterprise.

For more information on how to sign-up to The Prince’s Trust Enterprise programme, go to www.princes-trust.org.uk or call 0800 842 842.

• When Tim Vasvi from Tottenham was made redundant from his job in 2010, he was left unemployed and unsure where his life was heading.

Demoralised and worried about his future, the 28-year-old spent the next 18 months applying for hundreds of jobs without getting any response. Fortunately he was able to live with his parents but without a regular income, he struggled to get by.

He said: “It was a real low point for me. I had just taken finance out on a car so it was really tough trying to manage bills to start with. I was applying for any job I could but all I would get was knock backs as there was so much competition. It’s hard to take but I was determined to make something of myself.”

A friend noticed that Tim was good at taking photos and suggested he set up a business to become a full-time photographer. Without any money or business knowledge, Tim didn’t know where to start but then heard about The Prince’s Trust.

He signed up to the trust’s Enterprise programme, which gives young people the support and funding to set up their own business. On the programme they do a four-day course to learn the basics about marketing and accounting and they also receive a Prince’s Trust business mentor to give them day to day advice.

Tim, from Northumberland Park Road, received a loan from the trust and used the money to buy portable lighting for camera shots. It has so far proved to be a success and he has received regular work at nightclubs in London. He is now aiming to secure more commercial work and longer-term contracts. He said: “I love my job now and my life has changed completely compared to three years ago.

“I can’t thank the trust enough for their support. They have always been there for me and without them I would probably still be unemployed and trying to find a job.”

For more information about Tim’s business visit his website at www.timvasvi.com