A budding entrepreneur has stamped his mark on a national enterprise challenge launched by Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones.

Zack Griffin has been taking part in Tycoon in Schools 2015 and managed to secure fifth place overall in the competition’s profit leader board.

His company, Teens 2 Go, gives teenagers who excel in specific subject areas the opportunity to earn money by coaching younger pupils.

Zack, an Eastwood High School pupil, delivers afterschool classes in computer coding.

The 14-year-old said: “A few years back, I was interested in becoming a game creator or a web developer, but when I looked around for someone to teach me programming I couldn’t find any local tutors or clubs.

“Three years ago, when I was 11, I decided to teach myself and I really enjoyed it.

"I then taught my younger brother – who has autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia – and I enjoyed that too, particularly seeing him pick up new skills.

“Last summer, I wanted to earn some money but couldn’t find a part-time job. Around the same time, I heard about the skills gap in the UK and came up with the idea of trying to fill the gap locally and teach other kids how to code.”

Having initially launched his coding club and enlisted the support of fellow teenagers, Zack decided to extend his model to include classes in “academics, music and sports”.

He added: “Most of our services are promoted through social media using my own website and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

"Most children who attend our clubs rebook straight away and we have had excellent feedback.”

Tycoon in Schools gives entrepreneurial schoolchildren the opportunity to run their own real-life businesses, using loans of up to £1000 provided by the Peter Jones Foundation.

The teams then compete for a place in the last round over a seven-week trading period.

However, the profit leader board does not necessarily indicate who will progress to the final, which has been held at Buckingham Palace each year since the competition began in 2012.

Peter is currently sifting through the teams’ evaluation reports and will announce the finalists in the coming weeks.

Ross Williams, a teacher at Eastwood High School, said: “Zack has shown great independence throughout this venture and I have been impressed with his innovative approach.

"His business is very unique and for someone so young to venture into the service sector with such a plan is daring and shows great confidence.”

As well as Tycoon in Schools, the Peter Jones Foundation runs the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, which delivers specialist courses in enterprise and entrepreneurship at colleges across the country.

Zack, from Newton Mearns in East Renfrewshire, added: “I think it's important that schools teach kids about how to think for themselves and use their imagination to create enterprising ideas.

"I feel really proud to be a part of Teens 2 Go and it's been a dream come true to see it all come together and be a success.”