Make Your Mark Blog

A young man from Lowestoft has been chosen for the prime minister’s Global Fellowship - having found success during the Make Your Mark Challenge.

19 year-old Richard Miner from Lowestoft, is one of 100 young people chosen for the prime minister’s Global Fellowship - a programme designed to encourage and nurture oustanding talent and enterprise.

Depsite his obvious hard work and talent, Richard credits his success to the Make Your Mark team and his participation in the Make Your Mark Challenge whilst at school. During the challenge,  Richard and a group of friends established ‘UnHeard Entertainment’, a music management and PR company and as a result of their success, went on to attend the Make Your Mark in Music networking event in london, with Richard also becoming a founding member of YELP (Young Enterprising Lowestoft People) - a local network set up with the help of the local Make Your Mark team.

Richard says:  I believe strongly that getting on this chance of a lifetime, is in part due to the huge amount of support you and the whole Make Your Mark collective  gave myself and ‘UnHeard Entertainment’. It certainly allowed us to all become more knowledgeable about the ways of business and helped greatly in building a self-confidence in ourselves. The experiences that I have had due to ‘Unheard’ were priceless and I personally have a lot to owe you for those and the contacts made from Make Your Mark.”

As part of the fellowship programme, Richard is due to spend six weeks in India including two weeks in a school or college working as a language assistant and two weeks as the guest of a global company to get an understand of international business.

In November, Richard and the other fellowship members, will join the prime minister Gordon Brown to take part in ‘Global Entrepreneurship Week’ as part of the Make Your Mark campaign.

The Eastern Region Make Your Mark Team would like to congratulate Richard on this fantastic achievement and highlight how participating in Enterprise Week can really help young people to make their mark!

Just a reminder that there’s still time to get your applications in for the Girls! Make your Mark Awards.

There are four categories of awards<a

Female Entrepreneur of the Year
Entrepreneurs with a conscience
The pioneer
handbags and gladrags

There are some great prizes to win including exclusive and unique jewellery, mentoring, cash prizes and more, so please get nominating.

The deadline for entries is July 21st.

For more details and to apply visit

Hi, Shed here… Might I say how gorgeous you look today…

This month, I’ll prove to you that the process for turning your ideas into amazing adventures is wonderfully and devilishly simple. It goes something like this: you have an idea in your head, you take steps to make it happen - then… incredible opportunities arise:

All you have to do is START DOING SOMETHING NEW…

THE WORLD’S NEWEST CELEBRITIES - let’s see what you think…

This is a great example of how an idea can cause an adventure. Three years ago, I created a new range of sweets - and unknown to me, a packet of those sweets got sent to a guy in China called ‘Dominic’. He called me up, we became great friends and three years later - just recently - Dom flew me out to Beijing for a book launch for my new title, IDEAS MAN.

Years before I made contact with Dom, I’d been trying to release a new set of ‘trading cards’ for kids (the full exciting story is chronicled in my book). The range of characters is called ‘HELLEBRITIES‘, and here are a couple:

Even though the HELLEBRITIES trading cards never got the backing for a global launch, whilst I was in China I took the opportunity to see if I could turn some characters into 3D Figurines instead. What’s brilliant about China is that there are loads of talented people over there who can help with your idea (for a much lower price than here), and they’re even reachable through the internet (just Google ‘China Manufacturers’). Here’s what the sculptor produced:

If you’re a manufacturer or a retailer and you’d like to help make the HELLEBRITIES range the huge worldwide success it deserves to be, please get in touch through my personal site.

So that shows you how one idea (my range of sweets) can then create a huge adventure (a trip to Beijing) and also make another idea come to life (the HELLEBRITIES models). Pretty exciting!

And this is proof that…

***WHEN YOU START MAKING A NEW IDEA HAPPEN, YOU NEVER QUITE KNOW WHERE IT MAY TAKE YOU…***

All the best and here’s to your ideas!

Yours,

Shed

———————————————————————————————–

Shed’s bestselling, inspiring and amusing book IDEAS MAN is out now.

See more of his adventures and products on www.IdeasMan.co.uk

Read Shed’s inspiring story.

———————————————————————————————–

According to tech experts a new microblogging service called Plurk may be the Twitter for teens. I’ve only just got my head around Twitter so to be honest I’m rather glad I’m too old for Plurk. We have a Make Your Mark Twitter feed which you can follow online or via your mobile to get the latest links to information from us or our partners, in a shorthand form. It’s a bit of an experiment but I like the fact it feeds into our Facebook page to keep that group updated.

What I think is even more interesting is how community groups and individuals might be using Twitter to tackle social issues. So, for example, I could see it being used to share hints and tips on mobility or coping with certain treatment programmes like chemotherapy, which I understand can be an isolating experience. We’re hoping to discover some of these examples as they emerge through the UK Catalyst Awards.

I’ll keep on Twittering but I think for me Plurk might be a step too far.

This popped into my inbox yesterday from Heidi at Innovation Central. It looks like a great opportunity for those with an good business idea to get their hands on some cash!

With the deadline of 16th June fast approaching, there is no time like the present to get your entry in for the UK Catalyst Awards!

These new awards are looking to shine a spotlight on projects which are improving communities through social technology.

If you have such a project, big or small, we’d like to hear from you - we want to discover the undiscovered! Find out more at www.ukcatalystawards.com

You can enter yourself or nominate someone you know, either as individuals or as part of a business, charity or community group. We’re looking for examples of people creating new social technologies as well as using existing channels in a different way.

Dr Dan McQuillan, Make Your Mark’s very own Digital Guru, says: “This project promises to unearth the best examples where social technology meets social action head on. The exciting part is that we don’t really know what we are expecting to find. These kinds of ideas no longer exclusively sit within the tech world, and my guess is that there are social activists across the UK using technology to benefit communities in lots of different ways. Social technology can be used to address some of societies biggest issues e.g. environment, health, education, social inclusion”

You can find out what else Dr Dan has to say about the awards in the videos below:

(with thanks to David Wilcox at Social Reporter)

(a big up to the crew at Media Snackers)

Pretty cool eh? To find out more about the Awards and enter visit www.ukcatalystawards.com.

I really hope that Honda is an enterprising brand through its employees, not just its advertising campaign. Which I think is ace. They’ve inspired me today…

As we turn the corner of a new era, we need new people to help us continue with our enterprise message - As the new HR manager I am excited to have some great opportunities available to continue the enterprise message through our people. We are looking for people ready for new challenges and passionate about what we do - whether you are a self confessed enterprise junkie or want to embark on an amazing new journey you might just be in with a chance - so who’s in?

Vanessa

Enterprise Junkie - and - Make Your Mark HR Manager

Hi, Shed here… Great to be with you.

This month, I’ve got two new ideas for you…

1) THE p-Pod - the next big thing in MP3 players?

Forget apple! The next big thing is PEAS. I am very proud to show you my latest idea for a new mp3 player - ‘The p-Pod’:

If you’re a model-maker, graphic designer or manufacturer and you’d like to help me get this idea off the ground and into the shops, please get in touch through my personal site.

2) THE AMAZING ‘DRY CLEANING’ ADVENTURE (never thought I’d write that sentence)

Life is very exciting…because you never know when an idea might hit you. I was in a Dry Cleaner’s shop and became intrigued by the plastic covers used to protect people’s clothes. I noticed that they were printed with the name of the Dry Cleaning shop - and also that there was a space of white in between the reoccurring information.

So I asked myself the question: “Why can’t I use that space….perhaps to promote my new book?…”. I spoke with the Dry Cleaning bosses - a pair of lovely guys named Masood and Ali - and after we came to a deal, we printed a new batch of covers, complete with an advert showcasing - IDEAS MAN…

So, this adventure neatly proves that…

***OPPORTUNITIES ARE EVERYWHERE***

..and so, this means that you can take your amazing brain and just look around, whilst all the time thinking: “What could be done better?” or “What could I do slightly differently?” and you’ll be coming up with great ideas and having superb adventures in no time…

All the best,

Yours,

Shed

Shed’s inspiring, informative and amusing book IDEAS MAN is out now.

See more of his adventures and products on www.ideasman.co.uk

Read Shed’s inspiring story.

Phil Hope gave a rousing speech at the launch event of the UK Catalyst Awards - the community awards for social technology yesterday at NESTA.

Present were a range of aspiring winners, sponsors, partners, media, interested parties and not least the ‘Talkaoke’ - a doughnut shaped table where people come to have a facilitated debate and discussion.

The minister was especially keen to see a fusion between ‘techies’ in the social media sphere, social entrepreneurs and social activists. Watch this space…

www.ukcatalystawards.com

Microsoft have launched research today, which shows that over 80% of small business owners believe that the conditions for starting a business will worsen over the coming year. It also revealed that more than 40% would not encourage others thinking about setting up in business.  What was interesting was that financing projects was not of great concern so it seems that the issue is around confidence rather than money.

I went on some regional radio stations this morning to discuss these points alongside a spokesperson from Microsoft and was keen to point out the following:

• There is a market out there for more than you might think and, whilst entrepreneurs should be careful not to enter a particularly declining market, there will always be a need for innovative products and services
• You have to take risks to be an entrepreneur, no matter what the state of the economy is, so the trick is to manage these risks and take control of your own destiny
• Start small, but aim high. As my friend from Microsoft rightly says it is now possible to set up in business with only a good idea and a laptop based in your bedroom. You don’t always need to chuck your job in and remortgage your house to turn a dream into reality. Who knows you could create the next Google or Facebook which both started in someone’s bedroom!

And bearing this all in mind if you are (hopefully) still keen to take the plunge make sure you get out there and talk about your idea with others. Find people who can help you because a strong support network can get you through the hardest of times.

We were asked by the British Council to help out in selecting the top 100 young people to get the experience of a lifetime. They get to spend 6 weeks this summer is China, India or Brazil getting to know the culture, people, businesses and schools.

As the experts in enterprise we assessing the candidates on their enterprise capability. So I devised a challenge for the candidates to work in teams to come up with an idea to raise the profile of an NGO in one of the host countries. The case studies were all real and gave the candidates a really good basis of info to come up with some amazingly innovative ideas.

They decided to do everything from run a network to keep volunteers involved in the programme year round to recycling wrist bands to create new ones for their NGO. My favourite PR stunt which they came up with was to project their logo onto Buckingham Palace.

All of the candidates really shone and came up with fantastic ideas and presented them really well to the panel. I’ve learnt that being a panellist is a really tough job - it takes a lot of energy and the afternoon break was really needed to keep my energy up.

Good luck to all the candidates and I’m sure they’ll have an amazing adventure when they get to their destinations. For more info on the Prime Minister’s Global Fellowships take a look at http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=4120

The BBC is currently searching for Britain’s best entrepreneurs for the next series of Dragons’ Den and will be auditioning throughout the coming months. They want to hear from anyone who is genuinely seeking investment for their business idea or invention and thinks they’ve got what it takes to enter the Dragons’ Den.

If you would like an application form send an e-mail to dragonsden@bbc.co.uk, telephone 0871 200 3003 (Calls cost 10p per minute from a BT Landline, other operators and mobiles may be higher) or visit www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden

What’s more, as it is St George’s Day today what better day is there to take on a Dragon?!

Make Your Mark has teamed up with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, NESTA and a number of other organisations to bring you The UK Catalyst Awards: Community Awards for Social Change.

These new awards are looking for people who help their community by using social technology in new and exciting ways.

Anyone in the UK can enter and winners will get the chance to promote their idea and see it adopted by others, be invited to pitch their idea to judges, compare notes with fellow finalists, and meet other interesting people, like the folk from Unltd - the charity that helps social entrepreneurs. They will also be invited to an award ceremony where their work could be recognised as the best in the country.

If you have had a great idea using social technology that has made a difference to your community then The UK Catalyst Awards want to hear from you!

Visit www.ukcatalystawards.com to find out more and enter.