Make Your Mark Blog

Yesterday we hosted an event to unleash ideas for Enterprise Week 2008 at Beamish Hall. The day saw lots of networking amongst teachers, business people and those involved in enterprise delivery.

Pamela Hargreaves, Head of Campaign, welcomed our guests before Chris Spavin gave a presentation on Global Entrepreneurship Week and many of our guests shared ideas they have about how they plan to give Enterprise Week’s events an international flavour. Durham Community Business College are interested in ethical fashion. St Michael’s School in Billingham will be handing over Enterprise Week 2008 to the students who will be arranging events with an ethical twist. Staindrop Business and Enterprise College will be investigating why China’s economy is booming. Students will be looking at products that are made in China and investigating why they are made there. The students plan to visit China and go into a joint venture with a school there.

Tori James gave an inspirational speech. She was the first ever Welsh female to climb Mount Everest and shared the highs and lows of her adventure.

Tori also talked about Make Your Mark Clubs for schools and colleges. The Make Your Mark Club is for young enterprising people who want to make ideas happen while they’re at school or at college. It’s easy to run your own Make Your Mark Club and you can use this site to swap ideas or share information about your club. Want more information? Contact Julie@makeyourmark.org.uk / 01642 451826

Guests were then treated to 2 workshops……

One was delivered by Emma Farrell. This was all about Web Magic! She showed us how to utilise wikis, blogs, virals and other digital marketing techniques. Would you like to take a look at our twitter feed?

http://twitter.com/makeyourmark

One was delivered by Phil Tulba. He showed us the exciting world of social enterprise. He explained what a social enterprise is and gave examples. We watched the ‘Trailblazers’ DVD. Copies of the Trailblazer’s magazine can be downloaded at:

http://www.makeyourmark.org.uk/get_involved/mym_change_lives

Phil informed our guests about the One Water Challenge. This year, One Water and Make Your Mark have teamed up to launch the One Water Challenge for schools in the UK. Teams of schoolchildren (aged 14-19) will be given bottles of One Water and just one month in which to sell as many bottles as possible, in as innovative a way as possible. They could get them signed by a celebrity, or turn the bottle label into a piece of artwork, or sell them at school or at their parent’s workplace. The idea is to use all of their creativity and enterprise skills to sell One Water. After repaying the original cost of the water, what they do with the profit is up to them. They can keep it, invest it in more water, or even pursue another idea. Schools will be encouraged to sign up in September and bottles of water will be delivered to students for Social Enterprise Day (Thursday November 20, 2008) during Enterprise Week and Global Enterpreneurship Week. More information available at: http://www.enterpriseweek.org.uk/getinvolved/onewater

Guests could also take part in ‘Talkaoke’ – known as the ‘doughnut’ of chat, is a mobile chat show which invites participants to sit down and air their views around the Talkaoke table, as well as North East Bond’s Launch Pad which isdesigned to encourage all kinds of people to set up in business or to create a social enterprise.

Enterprise Week 2008 is fast approaching and our new site went live this week. Find out more at http://www.enterpriseweek.org.uk/

Download resources and presentations:

Social Media Presentation

Global Entrepreneurship Week Presentation

Enterprise Week 2008 overview - North East

Many thanks to One NorthEast, our speakers and our guests would made yesterday’s meet up a great success!

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

Craig Dearden-Phillips, social entreprenuer, UK Social Enterprise Ambassador and author dropped in today to meet us at Make Your Mark. Craig is best known for setting up the social enterprise SpeakingUp which supports and empowers people with learning difficulties, disabilities and mental health problems to speak up for themselves.

We talked about all things social enterprise, the Make Your Mark: Change Lives campaign, Social Enterprise Day and links with Global Entreprenuership Week and how we could possibly work together. As an avid networker it also turned out that we knew some of the same social entreprenuers (or is more a case of we have narrow networks?!) including Tom Savage and Matt Stevenson-Dodd who were both interviewed in his inspirational book, Your Chance to Change the World - the no fibbing to social enterprise.

If he’s not busy enough trying to change the world Craig also writes a blog!

Happy reading and thanks for umm, reading!

Phil

Creative Kids Africa, finalists in Make Your Mark in 60 Seconds, have featured on the BBC website.

Creative Kids Africa aims to run visual arts workshops for street children and orphans in Zambia and deprived young people in Bristol in the U.K. They aim to link the experiences of African children with children in the U.K through sharing cultural learning and celebrating diversity to have a lasting impact.

Read the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2008/05/27/zambia_feature.shtml

You can find out more about Creative Kids Africa on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/creativekidsinternational

Find out more about Make Your Mark in 60 Seconds

We’ve had a huge groundswell of interest in the Catalyst Awards, so we’ve extended the competition deadline to 5pm this Friday to allow as many different people as possible to enter. Is your entry in yet?

Find out more and enter at http://www.ukcatalystawards.com/

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.

At a time when food prices are rising it’s never been a better time to save some money by growing your own food. On TV Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is encouraging some families to do it in Bristol through a small-holding and it’s really changing the way they think about food - for the better. According to his programme, if there is enough demand councils legally have to give people access to redundant land to grow their own food, which I think is something more people should take advantage of.

I helped at the Thrive Garden in Battersea Park today, as part of the Open Squares scheme. I was truly amazed and delighted to see how many community gardening schemes exist across London, tucked away in small pockets of land. Not only are they used to grow food, but also to aid people with learning or physical disabilities and to tackle a whole host of issues.  They truly show that being enterprising is about more than making money (although they need to do that too), it’s also about the individuals who use their passions and interests to change things for the better. In this case it’s gardening and I can only hope that this current trend for ‘growing your own’ continues.

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.

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

The Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC) have just launched the annual Enterprising Solutions Award for the most immaginative, entreprenuerial and sustainable businesses that are passionate about social change - that’s social enterprise to you and me!

This year for the first time as well there is a Social Enterprise in Schools award with £1,000 up for grabs, exclusive mentoring from last year’s winner, Divine Chocolate and hopefully a big bag of lovely chocs!

Visit http://www.enterprisingsolutions.org for more information.

Phil

Make Your Mark Ambassador Adrienne Taylor is nominated as Best Newcomer for the Daily Post & Echo Women in Business Awards. Adrienne’s company www.goodfoodstore.co.uk was set up last year and sources local produce from across the North West striving to be ethically and environmentally friendly.

Please vote for Adrienne at the link below

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/women-of-the-year-08/2008/05/15/daily-post-women-of-the-year-cast-your-vote-64375-20914566/

Women entrepreneurs are more likely than men to use their wealth in charitable ways, according to the author of The Sunday Times Rich List 2008.

“Women are much more likely to see their wealth as something they can do good with than to go out and buy toys - boats, fast cars, jets and so on,” Philip Beresford told Third Sector.

Twelve women are mentioned, eight as part of a couple, in this year’s 100-strong Sunday Times Giving List, an offshoot of the Rich List. According to Beresford, the trend for female entrepreneurs to give is set to continue.

“Charities need to target women entrepreneurs because they’re beginning to make their mark,” said Beresford. “The balance in business is tilting in favour of women.”

Beresford also pointed out that women entrepreneurs could be harder for charities to target. “They tend to be more low-key and they don’t want to talk about what they do as much,” he said.

You can find the full article here: http://blog.makeyourmark.org.uk/wp-admin/post.php

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

If you would like to go to a Reception at Buckingham Palace, can you think of someone you could nominate for The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion 2009?

The nominators of the successful candidates also get a Royal invitation so it is will worth making a nomination.

Each year there are up to 10 Awards plus a Lifetime Achievement Award, if there is a suitable candidate.

Previous recipients include Jane Delfino, Innovations Director at the United Learning Trust within the Manchester Academy who is a Board Member of Enterprise Insight.

For further details and a nomination form go to www.queensawards.org.uk/individual

startups.co.uk have published their list of the top 100 UK start-ups. It is great to see some familiar faces in there, and lots of young entrepreneurs in the mix. My personal faves have to be Onya (their shopping bag is always on me) and moo.com. Check em out and please let us know your favourite.

http://www.startups.co.uk/6678842910082155685/startups-100.html