Make Your Mark Blog

Winner of the Enterprising Britain competition, North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone (NSRZ) and Enterprising Britain runner–up, The Paper Trail, are celebrating again today following the European Enterprise Awards.   

NSRZ was crowned the runner-up in the Enterprise Support category, while The Paper Trail was announced as the runner-up in the Responsible Entrepreneurship category at the awards ceremony, which took place in
Portugal. The projects beat off competition from over 350 entrants across
Europe.  

Welcoming the news, Stephen Timms, Enterprise Minister, said: 

“North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone and The Paper Trail are fantastic examples of British enterprise and thoroughly deserves this recognition. By adopting a positive “can do” approach to local enterprise and regeneration, both initiatives have helped to transform the social and economic prospects of their areas. I congratulate the teams behind the projects wholeheartedly.”  

North Staffordshire Regeneration Zone, which covers the urban core of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-Under-Lyme, was recognised for successfully transforming one of the most deprived areas in
Britain into an economic hub of enterprise activity.  

Following a massive decline in their traditional industries, North Staffordshire was branded by Barclays in 2003 as the ‘worst place in
England to start a business’. Since then, the various projects set-up by NSRZ have helped to reverse the decline by encouraging and supporting over 500 new start-up businesses and helping to create more than 1,000 new jobs.  

NSRZ has created 21 sustainable social enterprises in
North Staffordshire schools, giving over 7,500 young people the opportunity to run a real business. One example of a school-based business is The Mitchell Juice bar, an enterprise that was set up in

Mitchell
High School with a £12,000 funding grant from NSRZ. The students run all aspects of the business and all profits are ploughed back into the enterprise.  

The Paper Trail, a unique enterprise initiative that has converted a Victorian paper mill and disused industrial buildings into a self-financing centre for education and innovation, was recognised for bringing social and economic success to the local community.  

The Paper Trail offers a wide range of income generating activities, including recycled paper making, conference facilities, schools’ enterprise projects and training courses.  Since it was first established in 2002, the initiative has housed over 26 start-up and small businesses, created at least 300 indirect employment opportunities and helped local recycled paper production to increase by 65 per cent.  

 Happy Social Enterprise Day, folks.

Went to the launch of Make Your Mark in 60 seconds this morning. It’s always great fun to see real enterprise week events with young kids. They’re always so lively and daft. Some great ideas coming through - a car door handle that takes photos of thieves, a recycling scheme that raises money to make diabetic armbands to wake you up, you know that sort of thing…

Is social enterprise becoming mainstream now then? Went onto a BERR staff event where staff were learning about this and sustainable development.   We heard some great examples of social enterprise in action - the Sherwood Energy Village in particular is amazing - check it out http://www.sev.org.uk/.  But the points that stuck in my mind where from Tom Savage, formerly known as Swampy of Mercer Street, who described how he resisted the path of social enterprise in setting up his new green recruitment business http://www.brightgreentalent.com/our-team/ because he felt that he could have more of an impact on society and the environment through mainstream business. The challenge seems to remain about scaling up social entrepreneurship - any ideas how this could be done? Should it be done? Ideas on a postcard please to our future face of enterprise work http://www.makeyourmark.org.uk/policy/future_face_of_enterprise

Gordon Brown launched global Enterprise Week literally minutes ago.

Ten countries are on board already, ranging from India, to the US to China. Twenty-six countries are at the Global Enterprise Workshop today, covering coalition building, obtaining sponsorship, social media, and, most importantly, how to reach out to young people and help them to turn their ideas into reality.

The enthusiasm of the participants is truly contagious!

Think of it, we have over 5000 events taking place nationwide this year in the UK…how many could we get globally? Tens of thousands!

Right, better get going as we are starting a brainstorming session on ideas for events and activities for Global Enterprise Week…

‘Mindset’ is the most important driver for successful enterprise. This is what Ben Verwaayen, BT CEO, said at an event about the ‘future face of enterprise’ in London this morning.

Now I know everyone will say that’s common sense but the logic behind it did strike a few chords with me. Verwaayen was speaking about globalisation and innovation in the context of enterprise.

On innovation, he said technology was only the first phase of a successful venture. A good business model to implement innovative ideas was far more important. But even more critical was finding the right talent for your business. This could be anywhere in the world. “Talent has no passport, no gender, no age”, Verwaayen said. Spot on.

Verwaayen went on to say that he was looking for the best talent, not necessarily the brightest. The best talent had the desire to go the extra mile. This brought him onto ‘mindset’. The capacity to do something different, to get into a market early and to continually learn new things was critical to success. I thought this was absolutely right too. The future face of enterprise in a nutshell.

For background, I went to the ‘Future Face of Enterprise’ conference at the British Library this morning. Hosted by make Your Mark www.makeyourmark.org.uk , the event kicked off the 4th Enterprise Week www.enterpriseweek.org. It was a great, inspiring session with talks by Ben Verwaayen (CEO BT www.bt.com) Joanna Shields (President of Bebo www.bebo.com ) and others.

Dirk

I’ve just come back from our Future Face of Enterprise policy event and it was fab! Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the audience was very engaged. I think we could have continued the discussion for much longer.

The speakers were inspirational. I was particularly inspired by Farzana Baduel and Julie Meyer. They both made some strong points about the need for work-life balance when it comes to women entre- and intra-preneurs. But why not for male entre- and intra-preneurs? I think both men and women should have a decent work-life balance, not only for their personal benefit, but also to ensure family, and thus social, cohesion. For instance, I’m living in the sticks at the moment and took the 6:20 train (no comment…) to be at the conference centre on time. I thought the train would be empty but it was packed! All those commuters, mainly men, woke up at 5:30, like me, but they do it every day! What time do they go to bed and when do they see their kids? Do they only eat take-out or does their partner have a meal ready, which the main income earner eats in the half hour between coming home and dropping dead in bed? Another area where some culture change would be welcome, in my humble opinion.

Ben Verwaayen, CEO of BT and a fellow Dutchman (Dutchperson?) made some interesting points about web 2.0 and how it opens the door to participation. Whereas before you’d have to move to take advantage of opportunities, now you just need a computer, he said, to access opportunities.

I like the idea of ‘e-inclusion’ but, having just come back from 8 months in SE Asia, I’m not so sure to what extent it’s changing the world. In a sense, doesn’t it just propagate the status quo, with the lower socio-economic classes not having access to these networks? The guy who ironed my shirts in the streets of Delhi for 5 rupees certainly doesn’t have a Facebook profile (in fact, he probably can’t read). And even if he did, would the networks he could access be the right ones? I heard a story in Nepal of a man who responded to one of those dodgy emails (we all receive them from time to time) from some obscure person claiming to have millions in an African bank account, but just needing you to give him 50 quid so he can access it and share all the cash with you. The man sold his house because he believed ‘investing’ in the sender of the email would make him rich. He lost everything. My point is that, even if e-inclusion/participation is extending opportunity to more people around the globe, the vast majority are still left out.

As you can see, the conference definitely stimulated my thinking. I’ll stop my blabbing now and leave you to read a shorter, snappier blog…

Photo: From left to right: Farzana Baduel (Founder, TaxClaim), Julie Meyer (Founder and Chief Exec, Ariadne Capital), Maive Rute (Enterprise and Industry Directorate General, European Commission), Stephen Timms (Minister of State with responsibility for Enterprise, BERR), Phil Hope (Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for Social Enterprise, Cabinet Office), Joanna Shields (President International, Bebo) and Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Corporate and Legal Affairs Director, Tesco).

M

Ben Verwaayen is Chief Exec of BT. He said earlier on at our EW launch event “It takes a dog, a chair and a computer to be part of the global economic order.  The dog to wake you up, the chair to sit down on and the computer to log-in.”.

I’m fine with that. I just finished a telephone interview with BBC online where I was talking about how the Internet can help facilitate entrepreneurs to get off the ground quickly. And the next generation of young entrepreneurs will never remember not having a computer. Etc etc.

But aren’t we confusing the tools - i.e. the web, blogs, iphones whatever - with the outcomes (which in this context may or may not be new businesses or new contacts).

And dogs are fine, but what if you’re a cat person?

There has been over 5,000 events registered nationwide – a massive 61% increase on 2006
• Business leader David Frost describes the week as a ‘fantastic opportunity’
• BERR minister Stephen Timms encourages young people to ‘dare to turn their ideas into reality’

The fourth annual Enterprise Week starts today, with over 5,000 events and activities taking place throughout the UK across the week – a massive 61% up on last year. It has involved a massive collaborative effort with 1,893 different organisations officially registering events, with support from many more.

Business leaders involved include BT’s Ben Verwaayen, McDonalds’s UK CEO Steve Easterbrook Bebo’s Joanna Shields, Microsoft’s Gordon Frazer and Vodafone’s Kyle Whitehill.

David Frost, Director General of the British Chamber of Commerce, comments: “Enterprise Week is a fantastic opportunity for young people to learn more about enterprise and how business operates. Up and down the country schools, colleges and universities are participating and working closely with local businesses, fostering strong links which are beneficial to everyone.”

Stephen Timms, Minister for Competitiveness at the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which backs Make Your Mark, the campaign behind Enterprise Week, said: “Every young person should have the opportunity to be a successful entrepreneur. Last year almost 34,000 people under 25 years old took the leap and set up their own business, taking the total of self-employed young people to 147,000. Each one is learning valuable business lessons. Enterprise Week plays a big role in encouraging young people to dare to turn their ideas into reality.”

Entrepreneurs involved include Martha Lane Fox, Peter Jones, Lord Bilimoria, Levi Roots (Reggae Reggae Sauce), James Murray Wells (Glasses Direct), Alex Tew (Million Dollar Homepage) and Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis. Other popular figures involved include Patrick Kielty, stars from Hollyoaks, award winning rapper Akala, The Apprentice’s Tim Campbell and Harry Potter star Ray Fearon.

The biggest event this year is the Make Your Mark Challenge with over 38,000 young people taking part. More than 7,000 teams in schools, colleges and universities will tackle the UK’s biggest ever live enterprise competition at the same time. This is more than double the number of teams compared to last year, and includes one in five secondary schools.

These figures matter enormously in terms of the UK economy. GEM reported that the proportion of adults thinking of starting a business increases by 100% if they receive enterprise education earlier in life. It also showed that the proportion of people who are actually starting a business goes up by over 75%. With well over half a million participants attending the 5,124 registered events, the scale of the week is certain to have a lasting impact.

John Hutton, Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, says: “Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of our economy, with 4.5 million businesses last year contributing more than 50 per cent to the UK’s turnover. We’ve worked hard to ensure the right conditions for British enterprise by building a stronger economy, removing barriers and supporting events like Enterprise Week to inspire tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.”

Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses and Chair of the Make Your Mark campaign, comments: “The fourth annual Enterprise Week looks set to be the biggest and the best. Schools and young people are set to take part in competitions, challenges and roadshows with hard cold cash on the table! Thousands of events and hundreds of thousands of people taking part will mean an explosion of entrepreneurial activity. The week also brings together an unprecedented coalition of businesses, charities and education bodies and government all making their mark along with young people.”

Six key challenges that will determine the future success of entrepreneurship in the UK have also been published today by Make Your Mark and independent think-tank Demos. Called The Future Face of Enterprise, the publication is based on the views of over 50 leading entrepreneurs, policymakers, business leaders and academics

The starting premise for the themes is that each new generation develops entrepreneurial ideas based on its own priorities, ambitions and passions.

The six challenges are:
1. the UK’s need to break down stereotypes - including race and gender - and challenge expectations of entrepreneurship;
2. getting to grips with the real business of environmental and social change;
3. success in surprising places: the difficulties faced when trying to stimulate and grow enterprise in the UK;
4. the death of the lone entrepreneur;
5. the best ideas will need to work at both a local and global level;
6. and cultivating the mindsets for a rapidly-changing economy.

The debate kicks off at the British Library on Monday 12 November with ‘The Future Face of Enterprise’ policy event.

Enjoy!

Here is an article that was in FT Magazine over the weekend. It’s about a rather “enterprising” approach to apportioning out kidneys to those in need of transplants. Rather than just depending on the health system to search out available kidneys from the recently deceased, or having people selling their own kidneys on the open market… the idea here is to set up a system where friends agree to swap their friends kidneys to people in need.

This comes from Tim Harford (The Undercover Economist), who would rather that the government stop regulating things and start applying costs and taxes to things that we would rather people not do. It is sometimes difficult to tell how serious he is with some of his propositions… but they almost always provide good food for thought.

An interesting response to a Telegraph article here.  Apparently there are huge numbers of young people doing absolutely nothing.  Are there really huge numbers of people who will happily spend their lives doing nothing?  Should we just let them do it?

The article, and the Government define ‘doing nothing as ‘not in education, employment or training’.  Is that fair?  Aren’t there lot’s of us outside of those institutions who are still busy doing something?