If you’re looking for a great blog to read, check out Make Your Mark Ambassador Amanda Jones’ blog which is full of information on Red Button Design (her award winning, humanitarian design company set up with co-founder James Brown), and their latest news - always worth the read.
It’s great to see so much regional press coverage coming through for Global Entrepreneurship Week and really inspiring to see what different organisations have been up to. One of my favourites is Harthill Primary School where the pupils where given £20 and asked to use it to make and sell a product.
Incorporating themes from other countries, children as young as four set about making items like tribal African jewellery, Greek pottery and Indian trinket boxes to sell to members of the public. The picture slideshow is worth a look - sounds like they enjoyed themselves!
I’m in awe of all entrepreneurs in any field, but I’m especially impressed by people starting up some kind of web app. Why? Because I don’t know how in the world you come up with a name. It seems increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to come up with a name for an online business or web app that is memorable, spellable, and not completely daft.
The problem is that there are so many domain names that have already been registered (apparently, approximately 50 million dot com adddresses had been registered by 2006), and there’s a finite number of ways you can put 26 letters together.
Two of the nicest entrepreneurs I’ve ever met were at an IoD conference last week, inspiring young people from schools around the country - Sally Broom, founder of YourSafePlanet, and Fraser Doherty, Jam-making-jock. I happened to have a video camera and posed a few questions - including the obligatory GEW question!
(PS Thanks to Donovan for all his help on this. I just managed to hold a camera and press record so all the technical wizardry is nowt to do with me).
Can entrepreneurs change the world? - Fraser and Sally respond
Dr Paul Kodrosky, a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, spent his Global Entrepreneurship Week ‘globeblogging’, visiting several countries including Malaysia where he interviewed two people about their views and attitudes to enterprise.
Dash (our fine host in Malaysia) tells him about the challenges of being an entrepreneur in Malaysia, for example it is difficult to get funding for your ideas there.
Dr. Paul Kedrosky is an analyst for CNBC television; a columnist for TheStreet/RealMoney; the editor of Infectious Greed, one of the best-known business blogs on the Internet; and he is frequently quoted in major publications around the world. Kedrosky is a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, where he is focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and the future of risk capital.
Last week we announced that Make Your Mark with a Tenner will be run again in 2009, with financial backing from NESTA, Peter Jones and the Birches (who founded and sold Bebo).
In January 20,000 young people will be given £10 each and asked to make as much money and social impact as they can within a month.
Peter Jones and founder of the scheme, Oli Barrett, went down to the UnLtd Social at Canary Wharf to talk to some young people about how they might use their Tenners. British Satellite News filmed proceedings and you can see some of their footage including interviews with Oli, Peter, Reed International and some students from St Matthews Academy in Blackheath.
The Challenge: take a random object (this year’s competition was about water bottles) and increase its value by adding something to it - anything - that is creative, imaginative, and innovative.
The result: watch this video from a film studies team in Scotland, who decided to add comedy to water bottles.
For more information on the Stanford Innovation Tournament, an official Global Entrepreneurship Week activity, check out the website.
Check out Make Your Mark Ambassador and founder of Masala Masala and the Masala Masala Trust on her You Tube Channel.
At the end of last October, Priya travelled to India to set up the Masala Masala project feeding a homeless person with every pot of curry sauce sold.
Find out more about Priya and Masala Masala by visiting her website.
In September Emelie and Louise Olsson of the Catapult Club won the Pioneer Category at the Girls! Make Your Mark Awards. Along with a £3000 bursary, the girls received money can’t buy mentoring from Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’ and a very own Make Your Mark guest blogger!
Take a look on the Enterprise Nation website to read Emelie and Louise’s Q&A with Emma Jones.
There’s also another opportunity to see Louise Olsson and Emma Jones on working lunch tomorrow on BBC at 1:30pm so tune in then!
Lots of our fabulous female ambassadors were finalists and winners in the Precious Awards, (organised by Precious Online Magazine and sponsored by Pearson Plc and the FEAT Project) which took place last Thursday during Enterprise Week.
The finalists were:
Best Business (sponsored by the British Library IP and Patent Centre)
Runners up
Natasha Faith and Semhal Zemikael : La Diosa
Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Winner
Samata Angel : Samata’s Muse
Runners Up
Natasha Faith and Semhal Zemikael : La Diosa
Andrea Photiou : Playvybz
The Precious Entrepreneur of the Year Award: The Judges’s Prize
Winner
Natasha Faith and Semhal Zemikael : La Diosa
Social Enterprise Day
What a great day, we met youngsters and social entrepreneurs passionate about making a difference; it was full of inspiration and it certainly reinforced that anyone can be involved in enterprise no matter what their age.
Our travels started in Sheffield a hub of enterprise and a region that has embraced the One Water competition.
Myers Grove, a school renowned for its enterprising abilities, was our first stop to capture their launch of the One Water competition.
My last day of Enterprise Week (booo) was spent at Wolverhampon Molineux Stadium where I facilitated a group of students for the Wolverhampton EBP Business Challenge. The aim was to come up with a business idea that could potentially be franchised in the future. Out of the 9 schools that attended the group that won was, of course… the one facilitated by a Make Your Marker!
Last Thursday saw the Make Your Mark “roving” laptop enter Bescot Stadium in Walsall… Myself and Cheryl (and our trolley) took up our place at the Business Start Up and Growth Show where we attempted to get visitors to log onto our Unleashing Ideas website and post their business problems.
Many contacts were made throughout the day and we managed to get a few photos with one of our West Mids ambassadors Jo Cameron (some of you might recognise her from Series 1 of The Apprentice!).
I thought I’d share two of my favourite stories from Global Entrepreneurship Week:
Firstly, a 16 year old East Devon student is planning to open his own youth cafe after taking part in National Enterprise Week at his college last year.
And secondly Furness Enterprise used the week to announce grants for new and existing firms to create 28 new jobs. So it’s not all doom and gloom out there!
Last week Striding Out launched their Future 100 list - talented young entrepreneurs aged 18-35 who are demonstrating entrepreneurial flair and innovation in progressing a responsible business venture.
Their definition of responsible business is one which demonstrates a balance between economic, environmental and social goals to achieve ultimate business success. The future of our world is in the hands of individuals who are committed to generating commercial and ethical returns.
We were really pleased to see lots of our Make Your Mark ambassadors on the list and other inspiring stories.
Future 100 - The Next Generation of Young Ethical Entrepreneurs
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