Enterprise UK Blog

I’ve recently come across a neat little funding pot managed by St Katharine & Shadwell Trust (SKST) for social and community enterprises in the city of London, Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

If you’re running a venture or thinking of starting one up that has a social or ethical purpose you can apply for a grant of up to £2,000 from a new fund on offer by the Société Générale UK Group Charitable Trust – here’s a link: www.skst.org/sgukgrants

Now this got me thinking… given a choice should you go for grant to start up or a loan?

We all look up to someone to get our inspiration but the question is do our young people have the right people to look up to?

Role models are incredibly important providing positive examples for young people to follow, helping them to understand that whatever life throws at you, you can accomplish your dreams. They provide direction for many helping them to realise their true potential and more importantly to believe in them self.

According to today’s paper, rough diamonds make the best entrepreneurs. I believe that anyone who has the passion, skills and determination can start up in business, but what do you think?

Reading the forum this morning, I stumbled across this little gem from our Vanessa B. She asks, can a celebrity be entrepreneur too?

Now this really got me thinking….. Just the other week I was moaning about how Lady Gaga somehow deems herself an entrepreneur. (Memo to Lady Gaga: Wearing big pants, running around with a tea-cup and singing about being a blackjack face does not an entrepreneur make). Of course not all entrepreneurs wear suits and suspenders and stomp around, shouting Apprentice-like into their blackberries, but I’m not sure that by a ‘writing’ a book or putting your name against a cheapo perfume really makes you Priya Lakhani.

We were pleased as punch to see the fantastic Tenner coverage in The Sunday Times this weekend. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, make sure you have a gander.
Diana x

Make Your Mark Challenge 2009 – Tender Opportunity

Make Your Mark is looking for the support of one organisation to manage the regional stage of its flagship enterprise competition for schools and colleges, the Make Your Mark Challenge. This is a unique opportunity to work at a national scale and make a visible contribution to the delivery of quality enterprise activity across the UK. The contract runs from 1 August – 31 January with the main period of work occurring between 16 November – 27 November 2009. Consortium bids accepted.
 
Please email Tori James, Project Manager, Make Your Mark Challenge for more information: tori@makeyourmark.org.uk
 
Application Deadline: 12 June 2009

At 26 years old, he started Britain’s first venture capital firm, Apax Partners. By the 1990s he had grown it to be Europe’s biggest. It now has £32 billion assets under management.

Meet Sir Ronald Cohen, the father of British venture capital.

Last night, I had the privilege of hearing him speak, and entranced I was! He truly is the Don of entrepreneurship. He spoke about the need to focus on social entrepreneurship (he’s now started the Portland Trust promoting peace and stability between Palestinians and Israelis through economic development), shared his wisdom on why some entrepreneurs fail (entrepreneurs – be weary of your egos!) and said the people that make the biggest bucks see risk as opportunity and can anticipate what the next ‘bounce of the ball’ will be.

Here at Make Your Mark towers, we clearly love a bit of digital wizardry and no one comes across as more wizard then Carl Smith.

As a researcher and developer at London Met University and my mate, he champions mobile and virtual learning and believes that it can be as adaptable and fluid as we are. We liked the sound of that, so we decided to invite him along to our Social Media Afternoon, Wednesday 28th May, to explain and show off some of the wicked cool stuff he does.

The new austerity.

New puritans, Vocal heros, Austerity chic, Social indulgers…

In a world of uncertainty, ambiguity and irony, one thing’s for certain; people are spending less. This is hardly breaking news, but have you ever thought about what people are spending their money on and what they’re looking for before they hand over their money?

Well I found out this morning! I went to a talk organised by Threepipe, where design agency, OMD, spoke about their findings on how the recession has influenced consumer behaviour. Very interesting stuff indeed.

Make Your Mark Ambassador, Anthony Ganjou from Curb, reports back from the European Commission’s Your World Your Business launch event.

It is a pleasure to report that the European Commission is making great strides toward promoting entrepreneurship amongst the youth of the EU. Like many others I believe whole heartedly that entrepreneurship (especially in Britain) has the power to not only pull the global economy out of the recession but change the world for the better. As a founder owner of a British business started in the recession and growing, it is not anywhere near as gloomy as people may say…don’t believe a word of it!
Attending the conference was an eye opening experience; we were shown a short film going out to thousands of young Europeans, which makes examples of four brilliant EU based entrepreneurs making a difference. Although each is very worthy of a mention here there is only one I will make a point to promote, despite my disappointment about the EU’s decision to promote a Canadian as the British/London example shown in their video. 

SUCCESS CAN BE LEARNED

Last time I described how motivation plays a huge part in the process of success. Without a high level of motivation to do anything in life you will not achieve the end result you are looking for.

This time, we move onto another component of success, which is Clear Aims.

Component Number 2 – CLEAR AIMS 

People who are successful are very good at defining exactly what it is they want. Many people I come cross have very loose ideas about what exactly it is they are aiming for. As a result they drift about with a broad idea of where they are going but with little direction or conviction mainly because they do not know what the end result is or what it looks like.

When Howies got bought out by Timberland I wondered if it would retain it’s ability to be entrepreneurial. Happily so far it doesn’t seem to have dented their enthusiasm for innovation and the latest to be launched is Teepay – a site where designers upload their t-shirt designs and, if they receive 30 orders, their order is printed and the designer receives a commission for each one. A great idea which is very new and I can’t really believe that it hasn’t been done before. If only more companies would innovate themselves out of the recession! Customisation is a trend which has been around for a while but seems to still be allowing companies to innovate – like Adam from Looks Could Kill, a young business which is proving to be very successful and an inspiration to many.

Ambassadors Kiss Me Cupcakes at the Met Academy Launch at Aston Villa FC

Last night saw the launch event of the eagerly anticipated MET Academy at Aston Villa Football Club – entitled Creating Young Stars.

Make Your Mark is on the hunt for a new Ambassador Coordinator! As the outgoing Ambassador Coordinator (outgoing as in ‘heading to pastures new’, not as in ‘the loud person at parties’), I’ve been asked to write a quick outline of what the role involves.

First of all, you get to work with hundreds of incredibly inspiring people who have achieved amazing things. Whether you’re interested in social enterprise, fashion, product design, IT or any other industry, you’ll get to work with entrepreneurs in those sectors to help them enthuse and support others.

Oh, we’re ever so proud. The founder of our brilliant Global Entrepreneurship Week partner, Endeavor Global, has won a sparkly award.

Ms. Linda Rottenberg, CEO and CO-Founder of Endeavor Global, was awarded the 2009 Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship at Brandeis International Business School. Her vision of an organisation that transforms emerging economies through supporting high-impact entrepreneurs, has gone global in over 10 countries. Very excitingly, she’s the first ever social entrepreneur to receive the Asper Award. Read more about the award

Endeavor Global are still committed to supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week, and we certainly can’t do it without them!