Make Your Mark Blog

Armed with a shiny new camcorder I headed off to St Matthew’s Academy in Lewisham yesterday to try and film some 60 second pitches for the Make Your Mark in 60 seconds competition. The boy’s school was already taking part in a Dragon’s Den-style competition organised by Social Enterprise London www.sel.org.uk so I couldn’t have picked a better afternoon to visit!

Six teams pitched their enterprising ideas to a panel of judges. The ideas included a football academy, vending machines that sell umbrellas and an in-school barbershop! It was really cool to watch the pitches and how much thought and effort had gone into the ideas. Everyone was so supportive of each other too, every team got a massive round of applause!

As the judges deliberated over who was the winner, pupils were told they could do a 60 second version of their pitch for Make Your Mark in 60 seconds. “Go and see Miss Farrell” they were told - I felt so old! Luckily, they were all super keen and there was a massive queue of lads wanting to pitch their ideas. Not so luckily, the battery on my new camera died after only four pitches - sorry! The pitches I did managed to video can be seen on www.bebo.com/60seconds and hopefully I will be returning to St Matthew’s in the new year with a fully charged battery!

In terms of yesterday’s competition, the eventual winner was Bikewise, a scheme to encourage young people to ride bikes. The Bikewise team won £150 to get their idea off the ground, while the other teams were each awarded £75 - well done to everyone and thanks for an awesome afternoon!

Congratulations to those Connectors who saw the early hours of Tuesday morning to make it to the Connectors breakfast at the National Cafe in Trafalgar Square, London. Some of the networks that were represented include Mosaic Networking, Viadeo.com, Precious Online and Central South London and everyone who came enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast which included hot buttered crumpets with honey!

The Connectors group consists of network leaders. Connectors have a crucial role in the development and progress of young entrepreneurs as they often hold the key to invaluable contacts and can offer essential knowledge and advice to someone who is trying to make an idea happen. The Connectors group was set up to connect network leaders to one another and also to connect them to young entrepreneurs.

Look out for opportunities to meet Connectors near you in 2008.

Happy Christmas from everyone in the Networks Team at Make Your Mark.

Presenter Shivani Mair dedicated her two radio shows to enterprise during Enterprise Week 07. Listen here to two young entrepreneurs talk of the challenges they faced and how they turned their ideas into reality. Creative Careers Surgery is the radio show presented by one of the
UK’s top 20 young social entrepreneurs Shivani Mair on 101.8 WCR. FM. The show aims to empower young people into thinking realistically about exciting careers in the creative industries. Shivani is a great inspiration herself as a TV and radio presenter, voice over artist and events compere. She has also just been appointed to the new Commission for Youth Social Enterprise - a group of 20 of the
UK’s top young social entrepreneurs launched at the Treasury in Enterprise Week. Have a listen and get inspired!

Listen to interview 1 (MP3 - 20 MB)

Listen to interview 2 ( MP3 - 18MB)

We all want to look our best for the festive season and the Make Your Mark blog is no different, so we have spruced it up with a bit more colour here and there. So pretty!

If there are other ways you think the blog could be improved let us know!

Well it’s just two days after the National final and I’m sad it’s over. When you’ve spent so long planning something it’s great when it starts, but sad when it ends. I’ve just been looking through the photos and they really get across the sense of creativity and energy that there was. You can have a look at www.makeyourmark.org.uk/news_and_features/galleries/72157603451018967

The students were amazing, they rose to every challenge that we set them and really did themselves proud. I hope they had a good time, it seems they did from the feedback. In the feedback we asked them to come up with three words that described their experience of taking part and they ranged from intense, exciting and tiring to fun, challenging and teamwork. I’ve also loved reading the blog posts from the winning bloggers, it’s great to see what they thought of it, really articulate stuff!

Roll on next year, that’s what I say!

Gordon Frazer from Microsoft make a case for a certain kind of intrpreneurship, and quotes our very own Peter Grigg along the way… http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/12/06/228478/how-to-nurture-innovation-in-your-business.htm

Has the Make Your Mark Challenge uncovered the next generation of socially minded entrepreneurs?

• Wickersley School and Sports College, Rotherham, won the schools category with ‘Truck Trackers’, for small business that need to deliver goods but cannot fill an entire truck
• The City of London School for Girls won the colleges category with ‘Cyclevision’, selling exercise bikes for gym and domestic use which generate electricity to power an in-built television
• University College of Plymouth St Mark & St John won the university category with ‘Fruit on the Roof’, an idea for growing fruit on urban roof tops

They were highlighted in our first piece of online coverage: www.theaccidentalecomaniac.com/blogcategory/green-news

The 2007 challenge, ‘Make it pay in a globalocal way’, was designed to get the teams thinking about solutions to the world’s social and environmental issues.

The teams had to come up with an idea and develop a business and marketing plan to show how it would be successful, and then pitch their idea to a panel of judges including:
• Entrepreneur Seb Bishop, who starred in Channel Four’s Millionaire’s Mission
• Levi Roots, the entrepreneur who made his name by winning the investment he needed for his product Reggae Reggae Sauce on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den
• Matt Littler, the actor who plays Max Cunningham in Hollyoaks.

The three winning teams, one each from the school, college and university categories, won £3,000 for their institution and £100 of vouchers for each team member. The second place teams won £2,000 and the third place teams £1,000.

MOBO award-winning hip-hop artist Akala hosted the finals. He said: “All the teams did amazingly well to get to the national finals, but the three winners showed the particular creativity and business understanding needed by entrepreneurs to turn their idea into reality. I really hope the Challenge has inspired a new generation of social entrepreneurs.”

And my favourite moment?! Levi Roots singing Reggae Reggae Sauce during the awards ceremony and again in the hotels corridors for his many adoring fans…

I was lucky enough to be in (well I think!) the room full of the most enterprising young people at the Make Your Mark Challenge Final - the schools room! With 11 schools competing for the title of Winners of 2007 it was set to be a tough few days! All their ideas were fab and the way they all worked together was great!

Everything in our room had to be enterprising - tackling the tasks set right through to resources groups needed…the interaction in the room was great! There was laughter, frustration, questions and most important fun!

Right to the end the schools were completely on task after a speedy turn around the pitches for the final began! With nerves running high in the room, Bryntirion kicked off the afternoon facing the panel of grilling judges including Matt Littler (aka Max Cunningham from Hollyoaks). Then came Caister, Caldervale, Casterton, Gateacre, Park View, Portsmouth Grammar, Sandon, Torquay Boys Grammar, Walthamstow Girls and finally Wickersley Sports College - all teams pitches were outstanding and they handled the judges questions with confidence and style!

At the end of the pitches we were able to tell Sandon High that they had scooped some extra bonus points for their blog which you can also read here and then the buzz and excitement moved into hear the announcement of the winners….who ruled the roost in 2007?

A winning blog from the Make Your Mark Challenge finals by Pate’s Grammar School: 

When I woke up at quarter past six this morning, I could hardly think of anything I wanted to do less than get in a van and drive to London.

Already by the time we arrives at Burford Junction (Cirencester) to pick up the last member of the team, I was flagging on the edge of exhaustion.

Of course this feeling quickly changed as I arrived to a warm reception of free coffee and pastries.

Four hours and numerous amount of Guoman Hotel sweets later (very nice by the way) we were well and truly exhausted, having put our all into the challenges.

First of which, the ‘mood board’, we designated a lot of time and idea to the design and layout, in order to create the right ‘feel’ about our company and cause which for obvious reasons plays a key role in our portfolio.

As a team, we came together very well and any issues were quickly resolved democratically and fairly, exploring and mapping each individual idea put forward in the group before a decision is made. We are excited by the challenges and eagerly anticipate the results of the two days. We feel that we have managed to portray our business schemes effectively, while putting ourselves in the best possible position to succeed in the make your mark challenge.

A winning blog from the Make Your Mark Challenge finals by Sandon High School

When we first heard about the ‘Make your Mark’ challenge we were very enthusiastic. Once we knew that the theme of the challenge would relate to thinking in a ‘globalocal’ way we were really interested in bringing some of our own ideas to the table. As a team we started to toss ideas around and before long we had decided upon a product, ‘The Wheely Board’. We entered our idea and waited for a reply. After a tense week we recieved the e-mail informing us that we had made it through to the regional finals.

To say we were happy to be in the final 22 from our region is an understatement. The presentations took place at Wallsal Stadium. We tried not to get our hopes up but we were quietly confident.

We were both excited and nervous to hear that we would be going to London to compete against the best in the country, but we all really just wanted to live it up in a 5 star hotel!

Since we have been here and even during the journey, we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and feel proud of ourselves and every other member of our team for getting this far.

We have all had lots of fun along the way of completing the tasks and have pulled together as a team.

Whatever happens next, we know we have done our region, school and most of all ourselves proud, but of course we want to win…doesn’t everyone?!

A winning blog from the Make Your Mark Challenge finals by City of London College for Girls:  

Being pioneers of innovation is harder than it looks! Our team thought we were good at coming up with ideas, but two days of constant creativity really tests you to your limits. Luckily, we’re using our strengths in combination: we’re definitely working better today than we were yesterday, all the stress means we’ve really got to know each other, and what people are good and bad at. I’ve learnt a few things about myself too: I thought I was bad at maths but I’m enjoying sorting out our figures. Cyclevision, which combines an exercise bike and tv, uses no electricity (it powers itself!) and reduces landfill by recycling bikes, is also going to be a successful, profitable business. My team workers are finishing the website marketing strategy with moments to go until the deadline: unfortunately we can’t all squeeze around the sheet of paper. I really do think the biggest challenge with Cyclevision will be letting everyone know how fantastic it is. Marketing, or least coming up with marketing ideas, has been the most enjoyable part so far, but cracking the financial challenge has been the most rewarding. Even if we dont win, we’ve all had so much fun and learnt so much, its undoubtedly been a stressfull but fun challenge.

A winning blog from the Make Your Mark Challenge finals by The College of St Mark & St John (Marjon): 

Upon hearing that we had qualified for the NATIONAL FINALS of the ‘make your mark’ competition, excitement and nerves overcame us - could we possibly WIN this competition.

Our team has been focusing on a great innovative business called GREENOVATION.

GREENOVATION focuses on converting dead rooftop spaces into farms, providing truely local produce to the surrounding community.

Who would have thought a month ago our newly stated University College would be here in London?!!

The round ‘Star trek’ doors opened to allow us entry in to the impressive minimalistic lobby of the Cumberland Hotel. We all stopped and looked around in amazment. Nevertheless it was Carmelle who just had to TOUCH the waterfall!!!

The day kicked off in the OCEAN ROOM with a warm up with Catherine that involved a pen, a sticky label and a balloon…

Moving on, Dominic Cook - Chief Judge (a man on the Marjon MYM team Xmas list!!) congratulated us on getting this far and explained our task for the next few days.

Time flew by with workshops on innovation, a Carbon Footprint Challenge, cutting, sticking, debating, oh and a spot of LUNCH.

The buzz in the room was ELECTRIC!! But the deadlines approached fast and the room looked a little worse for ware. Still the team held strong and pulled out all the stops to complete the first days task.

A winning blog from the Make Your Mark Challenge finals by York St John University:  

What is it? The Make Your Mark Enterprise Challenge 2007.

Why we did it? Good experience, team building, bit of fun, Kathryn twisted our arms.

Who are we? Amanda, Kathryn, Laila and Leonora from York St John University.

Our feelings on getting to the final? Disbelief, Trepidation, Shock, Anxiety.

Our idea? Pocket money sized donate and save scheme for children.

Our biggest challenge? Getting here!

What we bring? Experience, energy, enthusiasm.

What we had to do? Lots of sticking and glueing, mood boards, carbon-neutral, be innovative, digital marketing, finance and Dragon’s Den pitch.

The Cumberland Hotel? Expensive, lush, great food, wish I could afford to come here again.

Riding around London in an old-style double decker bus? Nostalgic, Christmassy, a great way to see London.

Will we win? Who cares. The show’s the thing!

I was lucky enough to help out on the Make Your Mark Challenge finals today at the v. posh Cumberland Hotel in London. As a digital ‘expert’ I was on hand to answer questions as students completed the digital marketing part of the Challenge. Though I was initially terrified by the prospect, I was soon having so much fun! The groups were all lovely and it was great to talk through all of their fantastic ideas. Judging the digital marketing challenge was a tougher call - every group had put so much effort in,  so there was a lot for us to read! Overall the standard of the entries was very high, so hats off to the Challengers for giving us judges a lot to argue over!

Part of the digital challenge involved each team writing a blog. Our five favourite blogs won an additional two points and will appear on this website. Again, judging these was sooo hard as they were all brill, so we just picked the ones that best described the day (and made us laugh!).

The rest of the Challenge was amazing, I caught some of the sixth form colleges pitching their ideas to an expert panel including Levi Roots - wow, so brave! Getting up there on stage must have taken some guts and I was really impressed by how well the groups presented their ideas and how confident they were.

More on the winners soon!

We’ve made it onto the Vogue website - a fantastic signpost for the Make Your Mark in Fashion competition…

http://www.vogue.co.uk/vogue_daily/story/story.asp?stid=49116