Two groups of Leicester school children have been recognised as the most entrepreneurial in the East Midlands after winning the regional final of the 2009 Make Your Mark Challenge, the UK’s largest enterprise challenge for 14-19 year olds.
Students from Countesthorpe Community College and Gateway Sixth Form College excelled in the 14-16 and 16-19 categories of the Make Your Mark Challenge and fought off competition from other teams in the East Midlands. They will be representing their region in the national final on 10 December 2009.
The two colleges are one of just 12 teams in their category remaining in the Make Your Mark Challenge, which saw over 70,000 students participate on the first day of Global Entrepreneurship Week (16 November 2009). Teams were asked to develop an original and profitable idea for a business that could make a positive impact on the environment in their local area. The competition was launched by “Countdown” presenter Rachel Riley, who asked students to develop new and innovative business ideas to the following brief: “Let local inspiration lead you to a ‘cool’ creation”.
The colleges were required to pitch their ideas to a panel of Business Champions including Alison Bingham, Brian Stopsford, Pam Burrows, David Hills and Ivan Haggar at the regional finals on Thursday 26 November. The teams impressed the judges with the creativity and business potential of their idea and beat some stiff competition from other schools in the region to take their place at the national final.
The national final of the Make Your Mark Challenge will take place in London on 10 December at Kings Place, where a top prize of £1,000 for the winning teams is up for grabs. The winning team in the 14-16 category will also visit a school in France or Belgium for an enterprising and cultural experience. They will share and develop their enterprise ideas and be given the opportunity to either enrich an existing school partnership or develop a new one.
The winning team in the 16-19 category will travel to Belgrade, Serbia for the Skills@Work Challenge Final, a joint-project between the British Council and Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe, supported by Microsoft CEE. The UK team will work with students from European nations such as Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia, before going on to participate in a virtual final with counterparts from countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.
Chris Shaw of Unleashing Enterprise, the emda funded enterprise support programme which supported the Make Your Mark Challenge in the region said: “We are absolutely delighted that Countesthorpe Community College and Gateway Sixth Form College are through to the national finals of the Make Your Mark Challenge. There has been a very high standard of ideas this year and the national final promises to be a tight contest. We are really looking forward to coming to London and flying the flag for our region!”
Rachel Riley said: “The Make Your Mark Challenge is a great way to get young people interested and excited in business and becoming entrepreneurs. It is vital to inspire and develop the skill set of these future entrepreneurs as they will help to drive our economy in years to come. This year we urge all entrants to consider the environmental impact of their entries and we were not disappointed.”
- 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
Notes to Editors
Global Entrepreneurship Week
Global Entrepreneurship Week (16th-22nd November 2009) is a rallying point for a worldwide movement of entrepreneurial people, and this year will highlight the crucial role that entrepreneurs and their ideas will play in driving economic recovery in the UK and globally. More than 87 countries across the globe are signed up to take part, and millions of people will use the week to connect with their global counterparts, unleash their enterprising talents and turn their ideas into reality. The movement is co-founded by Enterprise UK, formally Make Your Mark, in the UK and the Kauffman Foundation in the US. It supported by the Department of Business Innovation & Skills. Last year, over three million people from 77 countries attended just over 25,000 events in countries as diverse as the BRICs, the USA, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Australia and France.
www.gew.org.uk and www.unleashingideas.org
Make Your Mark
Make Your Mark is the campaign to increase entrepreneurial behavior among young people in the UK. Young people are given the chance to take part in flagship initiatives such as Make Your Mark with a Tenner, the Make Your Mark Challenge and year-round Make Your Mark Club, and have access to strong entrepreneurial role models.
Its run by Enterprise UK which gives people the skills, confidence and ambition to be enterprising. It has four programmes of work promoting enterprise for now and for the future, globally and locally.
www.enterpriseuk.org/makeyourmark
Enterprise UK
Enterprise UK gives people the skills, confidence and ambition to be enterprising, through four programmes of work promoting enterprise for now and for the future, globally and locally.
It was founded as a campaigning organisation in 2004 by the British Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, the Institute of Directors and the Federation of Small Businesses. Back then their name was Enterprise Insight. It is primarily funded by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), and Peter Jones is Chair. It is best known for running the Make Your Mark campaign, which encourages enterprising activity amongst young people, and co-founding Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Clean and Cool Mission
The Clean & Cool Mission takes place on Tuesday 17 November and is a joint endeavour between the Technology Strategy Board, Market Intelligence experts Polecat, Volans and Enterprise UK. It will see high-growth entrepreneurs escorted on a visit to San Francisco to explore opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley.
www.gew.org.uk/events/clean_and_cool_mission_launch_event
Clean Tech Open
The Cleantech Open is the world’s largest clean technology business competition. It takes place as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The competition is the search for the best clean technology ideas from around the world – anything from revolutionary ways to generate clean energy, to better ways to filter water, to ideas about how governmental policies around climate change can foster new businesses. For entrepreneurs with a great green idea, the competition is a chance to share it with the world!
