Enterprise UK Blog

The launch of this years Morgan Foundation Awards happened on Wednesday and Thursday last week. It is a great opportunity for businesses and social enterprises to be recognised with amazing prizes on offer. Open to anyone with North West, North Wales, Shropshire and Wolverhampton previous winner and MYM Ambassadors Trendy Vend led the call for entries this year and explained how winning the young entrepreneur award last year has helped their business grown.

To enter go to http://www.mf-awards.co.uk

Gordon Brown will be very prepared for the sunshine now that he has been presented with a pair of  Zoobugs sunglasses from Make Your Mark Ambassador Dr Julie Diem Le! Julie was invited to attend a reception entitled ‘Building Britain’s Future’. Admittedly, the sunglasses are for kids so he might struggle to fit them but impressive stuff for our Ambassador none the less!!

On Tuesday I went to Walthamstow Girls school, where not only did i meet a fantastic tutor but also some incredibly talented students.

As Make Your Mark is piloting a network for students to flourish in enterprise the girls offered us some amazing feedback about what they want to really make their mark.

I want to say a big thank you to them you were stars!!!!!

Suzanne at the Big Lottery Fund just alerted me to a great resource – a report by the Young Foundation which maps rural needs across the UK. This could be useful for any entrepreneurs wishing to apply to be a Village Champion in the Village SOS project!

I went to an interesting panel discussion last week hosted by Weber Shandwick. The title was ‘What’s so hard to reach about the hard-to-reach?’ It quickly became clear that the consensus was that groups were only hard to reach if companies and organisations didn’t make an effort to reach them, and that there were plenty of opportunities to do so.

The key points raised were the importance of  ‘integrated communications’, using a variety of methods to reach different groups (not forgetting face-to-face) and ‘partnerships’ – working with organisations or media who do have a route into certain communities. They also discussed how groups did not want to be labelled by their ethnicity or age, something we have also seen through our own research into enterprise behaviours.

Last year there was some research done to look at top role models for young people.

The top spot was reserved for a family member, no surprises there. With young people seeing someone in their family as a role model, it’s good news that aspiration are linked closely to home. 

Below is the top 10:

1. A family member
2. Richard Branson
3. Jesus Christ
4. A teacher
5. Nelson Mandela
6. Diana Princess of Wales
7. Jamie Oliver
8. Winston Churchill
9. Martin Luther King
10. Bill Gates

The list is made up of very influential characters, all of whom are an inspirational in their own right.

‘360 thinking’
The phrase ‘360 degree thinking’ should be put away in a locked box along with ‘blue sky thinking’, ‘thinking outside the box’ and countless other meaningless phrases that imply that at all other times one-dimensional, dull, uncreative thinking is the norm. Any business discipline requires creative thought, but creative thinking should be an everyday occurrence, not simply trotted out when demanded and only on special occasions.

The Make Your Mark Challenge is here again and it will kick-start Global Entrepreneurship Week on 16 November 2009.

It’s the UK’s largest one day enterprise competition for schools and colleges and it’s FREE to enter. If you’re a teacher or tutor looking for a way to engage 14-19 year olds in a fun and rewarding enterprise activity, look no further!

Click here to visit the Make Your Mark Challenge website.  Registration for this year’s Challenge will open on 1 September 2009. To speak to the Challenge team call 08450 940 226 or email challenge@makeyourmark.org.uk.

An interesting short read here from Mike Chitty about some great enterprise stuff happening in Leeds.

Includes reference to more hard work from the inspirational Make Your Mark ambassador, Sabirul Islam

http://localenterprise.wordpress.com/

Hiya my name is Billy Alexander i am 16 and from the peter jones national enterprise academy. i have just visited the MYM office for one week on my work experience.

During my week at make your mark i have experienced a lot, they have made me very welcome and like one of the team. i have tried a bit of everything within the organization and i have found it very inspiring.

Their team has inspired me a lot and has shown me that there is a lot more to being a social enterprise then i first thought.

Make Your Mark ambassador Samata Angel is a self taught fashion designer and owner of label to the stars, Samata’s Muse. As a fearless entrepreneur she has bags of useful advice. In the third of our series of exclusive articles, Samata shares her top tips on how online marketing and sales can help you weather the economic storm. Have a read….

In the current climate it is essential to always have a few tricks up your sleeve.

On Friday I went to a fab event to celebrate the success of BBC Blast, a BBC Learning initiative which brings together creative teenagers and gives them loads of opportunities to attend workshops, get creative intern placements, find mentors and enter competitions.

The impact it has on some of those who attend is plain to see. AJ, who is now the ‘face’ of Blast attended a workshop and as a consequence got a creative internship at the BBC. There she got the chance to do some presenting for Blast and is now the ‘face’ of its programming. All from attending a workshop…

Rob Law is the founder of ‘Trunki’ the world’s first hand luggage approved kid’s suitcase with wheels. He was rejected by the TV show Dragons’ Den but then went on to sell more than 250,000 ‘Trunki’s’ in 30 countries, through over 300 retailers including John Lewis. Rob is supporting World Trade Week UK.
Rob says:
I’ve seen for myself the benefits of thinking globally when it comes to launching your own business. There really is a world of opportunity for budding entrepreneurs – you just have to be positive and wholly committed to your ideas and vision. Going international with your product can be daunting, particularly in the current economic climate, but the potential returns are huge.
In fact, trading internationally has made Trunki stronger and better equipped to ride out the recession, as our diverse income stream means we are protected from the changes in individual foreign money markets.
This week is the first ever World Trade Week UK, launched by the government to promote free and open trade between countries. As creator of the Trunki brand, I’m very keen to offer my support to initiatives such as this and Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Sharing business skills and knowledge across the world doesn’t just benefit individual businesses like ours, it is absolutely crucial for the wider global economy and will be key in steering us out of the current economic crisis.
To find out more about World Trade Week, visit the website.

If you are we want your feedback.

Make Your Mark is currently in the process of developing a student alumni scheme for young people who have taken part in the fabulous MYM activities such as Make Your Mark Challenge, Make your Mark Club and Make Your mark with a Tenner.

This is going to be the chance to support young people to make their ideas happen. If you are a teacher or a student take a few minutes to fill in the relevant questionnaire

Questionnaire for tutors

Questionnaire for students

What an inspiring story for anyone else on the dole. 18 year old Josh found himself out of work and bought an ice-cream trike off ebay for £1000 as a way to make money. He’s hiring the trike out for weddings and fetes. Brilliant!