The businessman, made famous by the BBC2 cult programme, spent Monday viewing potential locations for his new training centre for entrepreneurs, which The Bucks Herald believes to include the Green Park Training and Conference Centre in Aston Clinton, currently managed by Bucks County Council.

The academy will be aimed at post 16-year-olds and will provide young people with the skills and confidence to aim high and be successful in starting their own businesses.

The first of his National Enterprise Academies (NEA) will open in September 2009, somewhere in Buckinghamshire, after the new course has been tested by a pilot student group early next year.

Eric White, director of PJ Investments, one of Mr Jones' many companies, said: "We have looked at a site near Aylesbury which looks great, but it's early days in terms of settling on it. We hope it comes off and we are very keen to get started. We have got a lot of work to do with the academy and hope to build on that with Bucks and the Bucks community.

"I think it will be an economic boost to the area and great for young people. We want to shine an international spotlight wherever we set this up. It comes with a lot of interest from all over the world.

"We were in Aylesbury on Monday morning looking at potential land.

"We want to work with local suppliers and businesses and make them part of what we are doing. That is part of the ethos of the academy."

Mr Jones's ambition to run a multi-million pound company can be traced to his childhood when he became inspired by his father's success as a businessman. By the age of 35 he was building a £200million business empire and is now chairman and chief executive of a portfolio of businesses ranging from telecoms to publishing and recruitment.

News of him looking in Aylesbury for the first site has been welcomed by the town's business world.

Linda Walton, chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, South Bucks and Aylesbury branch, said: "I think this is exciting in many ways.

"We know from our research that one of the things which holds young people back from engaging in self employment is the lack of role models and lack of confidence and knowledge of what being a businessman or woman is about.

"Some of the most successful businesses in the country have started from small businesses, from individuals who started out with a passion for what they do.

"This kind of initiative in Bucks is very good news for Aylesbury and the community and I think a number of things are important.

"The academy should make strong links with other educational centres in the area so they can feed off each other and in that case we will be able to get a choice of subjects.

"From our point of view at the FSB our passion is creating an environment where small businesses can thrive and this sort of initiative will make a great contribution to the area. With the growth agenda in Aylesbury we have to match the housing growth with 26,000 jobs. What a great way of producing that with a stimulating and imaginative idea."

What do you think of this story?

To comment on this or any other Bucks Herald story, click here

To post comments directly on this website, click on the Comment on this Story link below