Plucky teenagers successfully pitched their ideas for raising aspiration.

The Year 12 students from Jo Richardson Community School in Dagenham received more than £3,000 towards their new initiative after taking part in City Pitch at City Hall.

The Dragons Den style set-up, organised by the Mayor’s Fund for London, saw them pitch their ideas to a panel of guests which included multi-millionaire Jamal Edwards and Nicola Brentnall from the Queen’s Trust.

BTEC business students Tumi Adewunmi, Manel Boukhboza, Dylan Jordan, Jerry Nwadike, George Phillips, Ondina Pimentel, Georgie Rogers, all 17, came up with the idea of launching a breakfast club and business mentoring scheme to inspire their peers.

Their ideas impressed so much that the group not only received a £3,000 start-up pot but picked up an additional £200 for winning the audience vote for most inspiring pitch and idea.

Matthew Patten, chief executive of the Mayor’s Fund, said: “City Pitch is an opportunity to empower young people to make a difference in their local community and it is inspiring to hear how passionate they are about making a difference.”