Make Your Mark Blog

Make Your Mark ambassador Amanda and her colleague James from Red Button Design will bravely return to the Dragons’ Den this Sunday!

In a new episode of “Dragons’ Den: The Dragons’ Stories”, Deborah Meaden and James Caan catch up with the duo to find out what’s happened since their appearance on the last series. It should be a good one - Red Button netted an incredible £50,000 deal when they appeared on the show. All the Dragons were keen to invest in their sanitation system ROSS, which could bring clean water to 1.2 billion people in the developing world without access to a safe, reliable source.

Did you know that Anti-bullying week falls in the same week as Enterprise Week (17-23 November)

Maybe you could use an anti-bullying theme this Enterprise Week when you plan your activities?

Perhaps you would like to encourage your students to think of enterprising ways of tackling bullying.

Ask students to think of an idea to tackle bullying, which they place in the ideas box. At the end of the week, these ideas would be collated and then the best ideas presented to the students in view of implementing them into school policy.

The latest Trailblazers Magazine is here, well at least in a digital sense!

As of today you’ll be able to dowload a copy of it from the Change Lives section of the Make Your Mark website. It’s packed full of inspiring stories of people having enterprising ideas for social and environmental change… and making them happen.

It tackles issues such as knife crime, climate change, poverty and development and showcases the myriad of social enterprise solutions to some of societies (and the globes) greatest problems.

Check it out here: www.makeyourmarkchangelives.org and you can order hard copies when the land next week by emailing me, Phil Tulba, on [email protected]

‘Be Seen’ and win £100

All businesses, small and large, are interested in generating local media coverage to promote their products, services and activities.

So we have launched a competition for all our Make Your Mark clubs to show us how they get their club noticed.

Clubs have until 28 November to put there plans into action and to show us how their club activity has been seen by a wider audience, either at their school or college, in their local community or even internationally.

Several award-winning UK companies are getting involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week by presenting their own real-life business challenges to young people around the world in the hopes that their entrepreneurial ambition and keenness to collaborate across borders will unleash thousands of new ideas.

Kwiqq develops social networking software and has presented their challenge to conceive the next big niche social network.

Eco Hoardings manufactures and installs environmentally friendly hoarding solutions to the construction industry and has presented their challenge to find new waste products they can recycle and reuse.

The Banana road show has hit Norwich city BIG Time and ambushed The Castle Mall on Friday 24th and The Forum, yesterday. Bananas (real, fake edible, and foam) were being given to anyone with an enterprising idea, and the Make Your Mark Enterprise Week Motor put in a special appearance and drew in the crowds.

Hoards of enterprising people were queing up to enter our competition ‘How to Make Big Bucks with a Banana’ to be in with the chance of winning a digital camera.

There is a major free business networking event at the Hilton Metropole Hotel on Monday 17^th November from 6:30pm.

The organisers are holding it in support of Enterprise Week 2008 and are expecting around 1,000 businesses to attend. This event brings together many networks and business communities and offers the opportunity to meet other high calibre business delegates, openly network in a relaxed and friendly environment, build strong business relationships and gain valuable information about the issues that most affect your business.

I’ve been assured that a glass of wine (or two) and a warm welcome awaits you on your arrival! You can register for free at www.TheNetworkingEvent.com Please do invite your colleagues, business contacts and networks to attend too.

If you love live music and cutting edge fashion, don’t miss Urban Works, an event being run by one of Make Your Mark’s partner organisations.

Urban Works is a fusion of live music and fashion, taking place on Thursday 30th October in central London.

Live music will be provided by The Loose Cannons, Zarif and the Kish Mauve. Fashion designers including Alison Gaukroger (www.coroflot.com/alisongaukroger ) Diana llorens (www.ddi-ddi.blogspot.com) and Morgan Barlow will be showcasing their collections.
To find out more check out: http://www.curiousgeneration.com/events.php?id=375

On a walking tour of London yesterday, a band of Make Your Mark intrepid explorers found out about a few early “social enterprises” in the city. These were social enterprises before the term was even invented, of course, and even before the welfare state. Maybe in Victorian times people were particularly concerned with questions of philanthropy as industrialisation brought more capital to the capital… Does anyone know of any earlier social enterprise-style set ups?

Many thanks to all the students, teachers and business mentors who made the first North East Make Your Mark Club Meet Up a success!

We had students 14 schools and colleges from across the North East who had the chance to exhibit their enterprising achievements from the last 12 months, play network bingo and compete in the challenge set by local business Coast & Country.

Our team of business advisors mentored the students as they worked on the challenge and were really impressed by the skills and ideas the teams had. The judging process was incredibly difficult!!

Check out this great competition for young people using their enterprising ideas for good from our friends at Common Purpose…

Calling young people to make a positive change. No capes needed. Just CHANGEit!

CHANGEit is an award scheme that recognises, supports and rewards campaigners aged 11-18 who want to or are already creating positive change in their communities. Prizes of up to £750 will be awarded in 3 categories:

Innovation – for young people with great ideas who need help to get them off the ground
Performance – to celebrate the achievements of campaigners who have already made a difference
Photography – young people’s photos that capture ‘campaigning in action’ by other young people

The North West Women in Business Awards 2009 have been launched!

If you are a woman entrepreneur Making Your Mark in the North West you can enter by downloading an application form from www.nwda.co.uk/women.

The awards are an opportunity to celebrate, recognise and reward the entrepreneurial talent of women in the North West and to inspire others and promote enterprise as an option to other women in the region.

There are some AMAZING Enterprise Week activities happening right across the UK, the North East being no exception. Want to find out what is going on in your area? Have a look on line. To mention but a few…we have a murder mystery, an international market, a credit crunch cook book and an eco fashion show!

Did you know it is not too late to register your Enterprise Week events – big or small, we would LOVE to hear from you! Simply log on and tell us what you are up to.

Winweb International have kindly offered to provide OnlineOffice for free for 9 months to any entrepreneurs that would benefit from using it during Enterprise Week 2008.

OnlineOffice is a complete Small Business Infrastructure for micro business, home business and contractors. It allows you to set up your website, online shop and blog to promote your business. Stay in control with the business planning and accounting tools, including invoicing. The integrated online file and data storage allows you to keep your data safe and to share files world wide. With over 100 free business ideas it is the ideal way to become a entrepreneur. It has many more business tools for you to use and start your dream business.

The 8th annual everwoman conference is taking place on Women’s Enterprise Day, November 19 supported by NatWest, BT and Business Link.

It’s a must attend event on the business calendar, it is the biggest one day conference for women business owners in the UK looking for expert advice on replenishing their business.

The event offers inspiration, workshops, presentations and panel sessions from the country’s top women in business. In addition to receiving valuable business advice, female business owners are able to network and share ideas with fellow female entrepreneurs. This is a great event to attend for both women in business and women looking to start their own businesses.