MAKE YOUR MARK WITH A TENNER
UK Students Challenged to Make Money & Make a Difference
Enterprise UK’s annual Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign is back for the third year. Make Your Mark with a Tenner gives young people £10 and challenges them to make money and as big a difference as they can in just one month – March 2010.
Enterprise UK Chair and star of Dragons’ Den Peter Jones - who himself ran his first business before he was 18 - and the inspirational founders of social networking site Bebo, Michael and Xochi Birch, are the big name backers. For the second year running, they have put up £200,000 of their own cash to demonstrate their belief in young people in the UK.
Make Your Mark with a Tenner is now open for registration. Schools and colleges across the UK have until February 11th to register students to take part in the exciting initiative and secure a share of the £200,000 Tenner ‘bank’. Those interested in taking part this year should register now at www.enterpriseuk.org.uk/tenner. Upon registration, organisations will receive a tenner for each student registered and they then have the month of March to take part in the competition. Up to 20,000 young people will each be given a £10 note and will have to come up with creative, enterprising ideas to multiply their money.
The competition is open to anyone under the age of 19 and there are three categories - under 11s, 11-14 year olds and 14-19 year olds. All entries must be submitted between 29 March and 9 April 2010 and the tenner loan repaid by the profitable participants by the end of April 2010. Sixteen thousand young people took part in the 2009 competition, generating an average individual profit of £42. Participants have the choice to keep their profits, develop their business idea further, or donate them to a good cause.
Schools and colleges taking part will be provided with resources in February to support participants including a launch video, a student logbook and a teacher toolkit. All students who take part in the competition will receive a certificate outlining the skills they have developed and the 6 winners will each be awarded £100 start up capital and support from a business mentor to help them develop their entrepreneurial ideas.
Launching the competition, Peter Jones, Chair of Enterprise UK said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner empowers young people 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. I encourage every school and college to sign up to this, our biggest year to date.”
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.”
Go to www.enterpriseuk.org.uk/tenner for more information.
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