Make Your Mark Blog

On Tuesday 24 February we held the second in our series of webchats focusing on money saving and finance. We spoke to John Davies, Marketing Director of Barclays Local Business who gave us his top tips:

Not all banks have stopped lending!
John Davies: Part of the reason why there is less supply of lending is because some overseas banks used to lend to small businesses in the UK and it is these banks that have pulled out. We actually lent 20% more in 2008 than in 2007 to our small business customers. So we certainly haven’t stopped lending. I would urge you to talk to your business manager at your local bank and they should be able to help you.

Congratulations to Make Your Mark Ambassador Cyndi Rhoades, who has won two weeks’ free trading space as one of Make Your Mark in the Mall’s finalists.

Cyndi is the co-founder of Worn Again - recycled fashion made from materials like seat belts, post-Glastonbury tents, bicycle tires and parachutes. Their shoes and bags have been huge hits with dedicated followers of fashion and the media, and their ethos has really struck a chord with eco-conscious shoppers. Be amazed by just how great scrap fabrics and a fire hose can look by catching Worn Again in the Mall: Cyndi will be trading at Walthamstow Mall for two weeks from 16 March.

As part of the ”Tenner Tour” I have been scouring the Eastern Region looking for budding entrepreneurs with ideas of how they can use £10 to start a business.

This week I have visited schools and colleges across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire and seen some inspiring, enterprising and entrepreneurial young people turning £10 into a viable, succesfully running business.

It has been so much fun getting out to see Make Your Mark with a Tenner in action and I am so inspired by some of the businesses that are now up and running - especially seeing as some of the participants are as young as 11 years old!

Don’t look to the Square Mile for budding business success - the real talent is at City of London Academy, Islington!

MYM visited the academy yesterday with campaign Ambassador, Vincent McKevitt. Vincent’s business is valued at £10m and has been built up over just three years. He is The Salad Man and he has set up a chain of healthy-eating cafes called Tossed.

Vincent’s business experience was offered to students who are taking part in Make Your Mark with a Tenner, and his knowledge came in really handy because lots of their businesses are based on catering and the food industry. Businesses include a very entrepreneurial Year 7 student who has started making and selling his own popcorn. Yum!

The Colleges-University of Leicester Network is hosting Investing for Success Conference 2009.
The conference will provide delegates with key information to develop successful foundation
degrees and accredited courses.

Our US founder buddies of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Kauffman Foundation, have published their annual Thoughtbook. It’s sort of like an annual report… if annual reports were thought-provoking, profound, engaging and creative collections of essays, with contributions from Nobel Prize laureates and jam makers extraordinaire.

If you’re interested in learning vs education, the evolution of capitalism, visionary science and big entrepreneurial ideas, not to mention jam, you’ll find loads of stuff that’s worth a read. The Thoughtbook takes a broad definition of enterprise as innovation, action and passion. There’s a line I really like in Gordon Brown’s essay on Building Enterprise Cultures Worldwide. The PM quotes John Stuart Mill’s definition of enterprise as “the desire to keep moving… to be trying and accomplishing new things for our own benefit or that of others.”

STOP PRESS! “Black Girls In Business Event”

Calling all female entrepreneurs. Do you want to be motivated to action? Are you looking for an event where there is laughter, great entrepreneurial spirit, fantastic networking , sense of community and real life stories of women who are making a difference and contribution to the world of business.

Well look no further. You will not want to miss The ‘Black Girls In Business’ event to be held at The Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham, London N15 4RX on Monday 9th March 2009. After the phenomenal success of The ‘Black Boys In Business’ event, this ‘Sista’ version is bought to you by public demand.

We have created a wicked cool resources for any keen enterprise bloggers out there…take a peek and let me know what you think!

Today I read an article that advised me that I should regularly monitor my competition to see what they are up to, to work out their sales strategy and showing me a few ‘back door’ ways to keep tabs on what my competitors are doing online.

Making your money work harder for you is one of the smartest things an entrepreneur can learn. In light of the current climate, we have drafted in John Davies, from Barclays local business to give us and you his top tips in managing cash flow. He’ll live from 1pm tomorrow lunch time to answer any questions you may have, so join us if you can!

What can you do to get recognition for your entrepreneurial achievements, a fancy trophy, your pic in the paper and £1,000?!! Enter Enterprising Young Brits of course! There is just one week to go until the deadline for entries to this year’s awards.

So what is it all about? Well, its not just a pat on the back (ok, maybe just a little bit..) its also a chance for young entrepreneurs to show how they are defying the gloomy economy by coming up with great ideas and running fantastic businesses!

If you are a young entrepreneur; what are you waiting for?

Don’t take my word for it (hey I work here) but check out a lovely blog from one of our ambassadors Raj Anand which includes this rather cool pic…

Raj is a fine example of one of our brilliant ambassadors - he spreads the good word about enterprise on social media in particular, he ran a competition in Global Entrepreneurship Week and is supporting Make Your Mark with a Tenner. An all round good egg!

When I found out that I was nominated for the Lambeth Business Award’s Best Young Entrepreneur category I felt reaffirmed. When you work hard all day every day, it feels so good to be noticed by others-especially when that recognition comes in the form of an award.

I think the Lambeth Business Awards, and others like them, are so helpful on so many levels. People who have nothing to do with business, or who are thinking about setting something up, can see that the council will support them by picking up on what they’re doing and helping to promote them. Also, I think when we win (notice the positive thinking there LOL) the entire team will feel encouraged and motivated to keep on doing what we do.

Extended closing date!!!!!!!

Closing date for Make Your Mark in the Markets is now 20th March 2009.

So if you or someone you know wants to win the chance to start or grow their business, win £1,500, win free nmtf membership and much more, then log on to www.makeyourmark.org.uk/markets

Or call Denise Ramsey on 0207 430 8047 – Come on Make Your Ideas Happen!!!!

A question for all you entrepreneurially-minded types – how can the modern newspaper be profitable? Or, is there a business plan that can save the printed word?

Went to a talk last night by Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News, called ‘Bad News: What’s Wrong with the Media?’ Falls in standards, readership and income have done for the newspaper as it operates at the moment, Nick seemed to be saying. We need a whole new business model. He didn’t say that model should be, just that the current set up is broken. So I’m asking you.