Make Your Mark Blog

Who’s a clever bird then?…

Greetings! Shed here… Wonderful to be with you.

Recently I was hugely honoured to have fronted the ‘IDEAS MASH UP’ competition for MAKE YOUR MARK…

The clever team at MAKE YOUR MARK took one of the success tips contained in my latest book ‘IDEAS MAN’ and turned it into a thrilling contest where students from around Britain had to combine two (normally separate) ideas together to create a brand new, and very exciting, business concept. The prize for the winning entry was a whopping £2,000, more than enough to get most ideas to the next stage so that they can attract a partner or the investment to launch to market.

As you may have heard on the radio, this week Peter Jones (Chair of Enterprise Insight which runs the Make Your Mark campauign) was asked to call Christian O’Connell on Absolute Radio’s breakfast show, for the “Who’s Calling Christian Competition” to be in with a chance to win £20,000 for a charity of his choice. As a bit of background, the premise of the game is to find celebrities on an impromptu basis and persuade them to call Christian O’Connell.

Inspired by today’s Real Business newsletter I thought I’d inspire you with ideas of entreprenurs who could help you celebrate Valentine’s Day (or boycott it depending on your romantic status).

Something to buy for the ladies; a Clippykit bag, La Diosa Jewellery, Lingerie from Ultimo or Pussy Glamore.

A Clippykit bag customised by London school girls.

Something to buy for the men; a fitted suit!, a modern chicken house from the Omlet boys or some cool t-shirts or hoodies from Fifty50.

I’m sure there is more inspiration in our Inspiring Stories section! And pls do let us know your own recommendations.

Hi peeps
After a long first week back at work from the festive break, most people would be looking fwd to taking it easy at the weekend. ..well not for me or indeed the other 20+ organisations who rocked up to Crystal Palace FC to set up their stalls and support the Croydon Youth Celebration event, which was organised by Jay Hollett of J Media productions.

Yesterday I attended the Make Your Mark Challenge finals for the third time running but was again blown away by the creativity, confidence and enthusiasm of the finalists. My job was to brief Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries (TV presenters and actors, who made their name in Hollyoaks) on their roles as comperes for the pitching stage and the awards ceremony, although I spent more time fighting back the crowds of screaming girls who seemed quite excited to see them there! I was with Darren when he introduced the 14-16 year old groups to come and pitch on stage and he did a fab job of putting them at ease and making it a real occasion.

This weekend I made one of our ambassadors a whole £1.45 richer. My first ambassador purchase (that I am aware of) and it was brilliant! This got me thinking, if I’m looking for an original, innovative christmas present, where better than the masters of entrepreneurship supporting Make Your Mark.

So, if anyone has suggestions on where to buy presents for; Dad (mid 50s, hates football, loves gadgets), Mum (late 50s - yes my dad is technically a toy boy but I don’t want to think about that, very arty, likes soaps from what I can gather), Sister (at Uni, likes art and fashion) and Brother (a couple of years older than me, no more mature) - I’d be over the moon (extra brownie points if these purchases mean I don’t have to go near oxford street in the next couple of weeks).

An interactive event run by Middlesbrough Football Club to support enterprising students in the North East attracted some of the nation’s favourite reality TV stars! Bad Lashes, the north-eastern girl band from the X-factor, pledged to try to forge a way in the music industry, while Emily pledged to keep her cafe running successfully, and open another.

This inspired lots of the audience to make their own enterprising pledges, (and get autographs and pcitures taken too!) which was a great end to a day that had seen students test their enterprising skills. Teamwork, innovation, marketing and logic were all tested in a detective game to find a missing local radio star. Well done to Middlesbrough FC, Young Enterprise, A4e and everyone else involved in planning the event - I think all the students went home happy, and I didn’t even begrudge the 3 hour trip back to London!

And now for something completely different, John Cleese (of Fawlty Towers and Monty Python fame) is a keynote speaker at the Creativity World Forum in Antwerp taking place on 19 & 20 November.

He is joined by other big names including Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), Chris Anderson (Editor of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail), amongst others.

What I didn’t know about John Cleese is that he’s well-respected worldwide for his corporate training programmes. One is his famous quotes is “If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” He presents a discussion at the Forum entitled “The Importance of Creativity”.

Not all business books have to be dry and boring.

In Dragon James Caan’s autobiography The Real Deal, he talks about how he started out in a broom cupboard with just a Yellow Pages to help him and went on to become a global entrepreneur.

Plus entrepreneurial icon Sir Richard Branson shares his business secrets, and the stories behind some of his most audacious deals, in his new book Business Stripped Bare.

If you think you have ideas to impress a Dragon, then tomorrow lunchtime (20 November) is your chance to put your money where your mouth is.

Forget about that frankly rather unappealing sandwich at your desk - and pop along to the Unltd Social Stage at Canary Wharf between 1230 and 1330 instead.

We’ll be on stage with Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones and Make Your Mark with a Tenner co-creator Oli Barrett – and you’ll have a chance to pitch your best and brightest ideas to them live. And that’s not all – the best ideas will win a tenner!

I’ve been inspired by a wide variety of fantastic entrepreneurs at each event I’ve been to so far this week. From committed community based social entrepreneurs like Chrissey Townsend, founder of the Teviot Action Group, to energetic dynamic young entrepreneurs Sally Broom of YourSafePlanet and Nathaniel Peat of The Safety Box and , to brilliant innovators such as Celia Gates of Doctor Cook, and famous names like James Caan and Peter Jones.

I’d be interested to hear who has inspired you the most this week?

When we asked “I’m A Celebrity” host, Mark Durden-Smith, to present our new video explaining what Social Firms are , we didn’t realise its launch on Social Enterprise Day (20 November 2008) would coincide with the first week of the new “I’m A Celebrity” series. Our video is a quick 3 minute film called “Social Firms, successful businesses, empowering employment” and it explains that Social Firms are businesses set up to create employment for people who face the greatest barriers to gaining employment e.g. disabled or homeless people. The film stars employees of Social Firms Aquamacs (www.aquamacs.co.uk) and Scotch Bonnet (www.aquamacs.co.uk).

Some of the young people I’ve seen this week have been surprised at their ability to do public speaking - after being asked to do so at Enterprise Week events. One of the Prime Minister’s Global Fellows spoke in front of 400+ people on Monday (at Chain Reaction) and the confidence it gave her was amazing, I know she’ll go onto better things in the future as a result. I said to her that talking about something you’re passionate about makes it easier to talk with confidence in front of others.

Governer Arnold Schwarzenegger is officially supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week by hosting a Governer’s Conference on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in Los Angeles on November 18-19, 2008.

The conference will bring together small business leaders and entrepreneurs from across California to develop and ratify proposals to improve the state’s business climate. It is the centrepiece of California’s participation in Global Entrepreneurship Week and Arnie says he’s proud to have the opportunity to take part in this initiative in the golden state.

For more info, check out the event website.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, please insert all Schwarzenegger-enterprise puns below!

Everywoman have secured some of Britain’s most inspirational female entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and expertise with you too. With just two weeks to go, if you haven’t already booked your place, hurry, as places are filling up quickly.

Having worked with comedy legends such as French and Saunders, comedienne extraordinaire Ruby Wax is perfectly placed to deliver a motivational talk – geared to get everyone fired up and ready to take on the world!