Here’s a story to warm the cockles of his Lordship, Alan Sugar. The former Labour government-appointed ‘Enterprise Tsar’ is currently concentrating his efforts to discovering his first Junior Apprentice:

“What I am looking for is that killer instinct, that spark of genius and that nose for doing a good deal,” said Lord Sugar to the 10, 16-17-year-old hopefuls. “I have a passion for helping young people to succeed, because ultimately it’s up to your generation to rescue and revitalise the country.”

But if the group ultimately fail to make the grade, Lord Sugar could do a lot worse than to look across the pond and explore working opportunities alongside a new entrepreneur who is causing more than a little stir in the Silicon Valley.

Meet Diane Keng- co-founder (alongside her 25-year-old brother, Steven) of MyWeboo.com, which operates from their parent’s garage in Cupertino, California. Diane is just 18-years-old, and yes, she continues to juggle her business life alongside her final high-school years.

MyWeboo represents the third of Diane’s three start-up business ventures of the past three years.  Her first was a simple t-shirt business, which she claims barely made a $1 profit per sale, but she soon branched into the world of market research.

Diane’s second firm focused on young people, which she believes put her at a distinct advantage against her competitors because she knew her peer-group market inside out.

Her third venture, MyWeboo, is a website that connects web services and social networks as file drives to a user’s profile, where they can manage their text, videos, photograph uploads and updates on one compact page.

And earlier this month, Diane began pitching her start-up company to venture capitalists at a Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

So what factors have helped the pair reach these giddy heights? Many wonder and wander in and out of the Silicon Valley of broken technological dreams, with its unique system of budding start-ups and experienced innovators. Fortunately for Diane, this is already her home.

Ok, and it helps that the Keng siblings  have a rather rich benefactor- their venture-capitalist father, Brian Keng. Brian provided $100,000 to get the start-up off and running but only after tight scrutiny of his children’s business plan.

The risks involved with the company are obvious- one serious form of hacking could induce mass chaos across the mainstream social networks and have serious implications on the business’ financial viability.

But as any good VC knows, high risk investment is only purposeful if there is a product or service that has genuine potential for profit.  While MyWeboo isn’t making great amounts of money thus far, according to a YouNoodle Inc survey,( a company that tracks start ups), founders under the age of 25 can expect their companies to be worth about 27% more after three years than other founders (who are on average, 35-years-old).

While Lord Sugar might frown at Diane Keng’s $100,000 helping hand from her father, he’ll probably admire the drive and desire to succeed, and acknowledge the greater pressures of delivering success after such heavy investment.  The Amstrad tycoon will ultimately pick a British teen to take on a £25,000 project, but in an increasingly globalised world, he can be rest assured that the next generation of kids seem to be alright.