A 16-YEAR-OLD East Devon boy has won an award for setting up a youth cafe in Sidmouth.

Dan Gigg won a CHANGEit award in the innovation category for the Giovani Youth Café, which he set up after attending National Enterprise Week at his college in 2007.

The week is supported by Rise, which is the voice for the South West social enterprise. During the week, Dan attended Social Enterprise Day, which is aimed at encouraging young entrepreneurs to develop ideas to do with social or environmental change.

With the support of Sidmouth Town Council, Dan developed a business plan for the cafe, positioning it in the Esplanade shelters on Sidmouth seafront. The cafe is designed to give young people aged 11 to 19 who live in the East Devon area somewhere safe to go.

The profits of the project are being reinvested into the business.

Run by international leadership organisation Common Purpose, the CHANGEit Awards are supported by Deutsche Bank.