Nearly 300 Nottinghamshire students have this week taken up Peter Jones’ challenge of turning £10 into a projected £4,267 in just one month with their own community-minded, enterprising ideas, as part of Enterprise UK’s Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign.

A £10 note will be given today to each of the young people aged 19 and under taking part in Nottinghamshire, with the challenge to come up with creative and enterprising ideas that make money and make a difference – and to return that £10 at the end of the month.

The children taking part have the chance to win the money can’t buy prize of a one to one with a leading entrepreneurs including Peter Jones, Eden Project founder Tim Smit and CEO of Firebox and Moshi Monsters Michael Acton Smith and a special visit to their school assembly. The six winners will also each be awarded £100 start up capital and support from a business mentor to help them develop their entrepreneurial ideas.

Winners will be chosen from three categories: under 11s, 11-14 year olds and 14-19 year olds – with winners selected for the best business idea, the most profit generated and the positive impact made on their community. In 2009 16,000 young people took part in the competition and the top 100 entries generated an average individual profit of £42.

Make Your Mark with a Tenner is backed by a team of leading businessmen and women, including the competition’s mastermind, serial entrepreneur Oli Barrett. Peter Jones, the founders of Bebo Michael and Xochi Birch, and the Big Lottery Fund are financial backers of the challenge, lending a total of £400,000 to students across the UK for the month of March.

Launching the competition, Peter Jones, Chair of Enterprise UK said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner empowers young people in Nottinghamshire to make their ideas happen. We know that young people are increasingly concerned about the challenges society faces, and we’re aiming to show young people that by acting on an enterprising idea, it is possible to make money and a real difference.”

“Make Your Mark with a Tenner harnesses the unrivalled energy and creativity of young people. Their fantastic achievements increase each year that we run it, proof that if you trust young people to act entrepreneurially they will rise to the challenge.”

Mick McGrath, the Big Lottery Fund’s Head of Region – East Midlands, said: “Big Lottery Fund has a proud history of supporting projects for young people which give them the skills, ambition and empowerment to improve their lives in ways that matter to them. Across the East Midlands schools are already on board with this competition, but the additional money from the BIG now means that more people than ever before can take part. This is a great opportunity to get some real hands on experience of entrepreneurship with real money, and offers a chance for initiative and creativity to shine through.”

Enterprise UK’s Deputy Chief Executive Scott Cain said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner is all about trusting young people to show their tenacity and entrepreneurial skills. Young Brits prove themselves to be a brilliant investment.”

-ENDS-

Issued on behalf of Enterprise UK by Lava. For further information please contact Louise or Steph at Lava on 01522 842 800 / 07870 567 968 or steph@lavapr.co.uk / louise@lavapr.co.uk

To view all of Lava’s recent press releases or to sign up to receive them via RSS please visit http://www.lavapr.co.uk/press-releases or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lavapr