A pair of enterprising pupils rubbed shoulders with Sir Richard Branson at an awards ceremony.

Genevieve Doe and Emily Taylor from the Russell School won the most profitable business idea at the Young Enterprise fiver challenge awards ceremony last month.

The 10-year-old girls, known as Team Flutterflys, created colourful handcrafted googly eyed bookmarks, called Splatz, which were designed to make reading more fun.

As part of the fiver challenge, the team also made finger-knitted bracelets and, in four weeks, made a profit of more than £495.

The fiver challenge encourages pupils to set up their own business with £5, make a profit and engage with their community.

Genevieve, who presented Sir Richard with a bookmark, said: "A lot of people in our school were folding down pages in books so we thought we could make bookmarks and bracelets and people were very excited when we told them."

Fiona Sheen, deputy headteacher of the Russell School in Petersham, said: "What was great about their idea was that they took something very simple and easy to make and they were able to make it on mass and there was very little outlay cost wise but of course it was something that appealed to all age groups.

"The fiver challenge has been a great way of teaching the children the basics about running a business."