A group of eight senior pupils from Lochaber High School, Fort William, have shown they have what it takes to succeed in business - by scooping top place in the first-ever Highlands and Islands Youth Enterprise Challenge.

The winning pupils - Sol Jacobson, Deborah MacColl, Gemma MacDonald, Katy MacLachlan, Alasdair Miles, David Muirhead, Robert Strachan and Finlay Wild - pitted their wits against 11 other teams from secondary schools across the region to take the prestigious award. They will go on to represent the Highlands and Islands at a national competition, the Scottish Braveheart Challenge, to be held at Stirling Castle next January.

Almost 100 young entrepreneurs and 40 business people gathered at the Newton Hotel's Highland Conference Centre for the event, part of a one-day Youth Enterprise Showcase organised by the Highlands and Islands Education Business Partnerships on Wednesday 3 October.

Each of the competing teams was given just five hours to create an original business plan, prepare a computer model for their idea and present it to the judging panel.

The task for the entrants, which was only disclosed on the morning of the competition, was to design a product or service to assist tourism in the Highlands and Islands.

Lochaber High School came up with the ingenious idea of developing a network of computerised 'travel terminals', modelled on high street bank autotellers, which could be installed in key locations throughout the region.

Using the latest technology, these machines would enable travellers to key in their destination and receive information on how to journey there by land, sea or air. To finish the transaction, the user would also be able buy their ticket directly from the terminal, using a credit or debit card.

Gordon McVie of Enterprise Insight Scotland, who judged the competition along with Laurence Young of Freedom of the Glen Hotels and Islah Alie-MacLachlan from the University of Strathclyde, said the teams had been set a tough challenge and each one had come up with some impressive results.

"We were privileged today to see some very bright ideas being generated," said Gordon. "Each team really threw themselves into the challenge with heart and soul. Events like this show that our young people are a match for any in the world and it's a shame there could only be one winner."

Deborah MacColl (17), a member of the winning team, said the quality of the other entries meant she hadn't expected to win.

"The showcase was a very exciting day which just flew by," Deborah said. "We left Fort William at quarter to seven in the morning and were still a bit sleepy at the start, but the speakers were great at helping us get motivated and stuck in.

"Each team worked with a business adviser. Ours was Allan Brown from Crannog in Fort William and he was great at guiding us through the whole process. In the end, we were so keen we worked through lunch and really had to pull out all the stops in the last hour to get our project finished.

"The competition was tough but a lot of fun and great for building confidence. There were some amazing entries from the other teams and we still can't quite believe that we've won. We're all really pleased and can't wait to go to the finals next year."

The Youth Enterprise Showcase was opened by Sandy Cumming, chief executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, who funded the event.