The months of March and April have seen some of our ambassadors take part in Media Training and Public Speaking and Presentation courses which have proven to be a great success and very worthwhile.
Here’s what some of our Advanced Public Speaking stars from yesterday had to say:
A strange day today - with the good news including that Jamie Murray-Wells has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and at 26 is the youngest ever recipient. Jamie is a great example of someone who saw a gap in the market and made his idea happen, entering an established high street market with big players who weren’t too pleased with his business model which took business away from them!
The Independent on Sunday published a ‘Happy List’ this weekend - encompassing the top 100 people who who make Britain a better and a happier place to live.
There is a diverse list of people on there, including I might add, two very odd entries; Thomas the Tank Engine and Simba (a dog). They are clearly not PEOPLE which I thought was the point of the list.
Anyway withholding those errors there are some good people on the list including entrepreneurs Sophi from Divine Chocolate, Sam Roddick of Coco de Mer and Andrew Thompson of Sign Now. And not forgetting my own personal hero David Attenborough (I love ‘im I do).
I settled down under my fleece blanket last night to watch a bit of telly and who should appear on my screen but the real life Willy Wonka. I am of course referring to Willie Harcourt-Cooze who is all at once; brilliantly bonkers; entrepreneurial and energetic; father of three; chocoholic; oh and a good cook.
If you’ve seen any of his programmes on Channel Four you’ll see that he is singlehandedly trying to revolutionise the chocolate market with his wares made from Venezualan cocoa beans.
At the weekend I was asked to participate at The Enterprise Show, Leeds, which was an event hosted by Business Link as a ‘one stop shop’ for people with a business idea, to attend and get all the information they need to get their business off the ground.
As a Make Your Mark Ambassador, I’m often asked to do things like this. This is me at the start of the day:
Video 1 at the shows
During the course of the day I was so busy speaking to the people who stopped by my stand, that I completely forgot to do any video blogging, so this is me ’rounding up’ at the end!
Last night I popped along to the first ever enterprise master class at the National Enterprise Academy, a skills academy established by Peter Jones and backed by the government. We heard a great talk from Make Your Mark Ambassador David Hathiramani from A Suit That Fits.com. It was really inspiring stuff, and I came away from the event totally convinced that, as David said, “there is no better time to ask your parents for a loan” and start grabbing opportunities in enterprise. Whether I can convince my parents is another matter.
The winners of the 2009 Make Your Mark Enterprising Young Brits Awards were announced today (Tuesday 24 March 2009) at a very swanky ceremony at the Institute of Directors (IoD), London.
They were each presented with a trophy and £1,000 prize money by Chancellor Alistair Darling, who made time to chat to finalists and hear their positive stories.
Well, as for all the negative press and comments about recessions and credit crunches, at the Women in Business event attended by fourteen entrepreneurs and MP, Yvette Cooper in Castleford today there wasn’t a single moan or groan in sight, just positive comments and the most tremendous inspirational stories.
Each person around the table had a different tale to tell and what made it more interesting was that they were so varied and in some cases sparked off a round of giggles – from recession busting ‘oldies’ to decisions between marrying a rich man or getting a job – the job won!
A report on the World Entrepreneur Society’s 2009 Summit, from Make Your Mark Ambassador Vernon Kerswell.
I had the privilege to attend this event as a Make your Mark Ambassador. Dedicated to entrepreneurs, it was organised by the World Entrepreneur Society, held at the prestigious Goodenough College, London. The theme… “What keeps you awake at night?”
This event, now in its second year, was organised to bring together great minds to share, learn and celebrate enterprise. It was largely attended by entrepreneurs who had made it in their business. Executives rolling up for a prompt 9am start armed with their Blackberries and iPhones in hand, twittering as they went. It was also well attended by the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, some of whom had fledgling businesses and others who had just begun their journey. With a ticket price of £120 (£55 for students) it made this event even more exclusive, and for those just starting out, even in a recession, it was a good investment for those wanting to meet like minded people.
You know what we need more of? Great people doing great things.
People growing a global economy through knowledge sharing, fair trade initiatives and investment in community enterprises abroad.
People boosting our own economy through innovation and smart use of technology, creating local jobs, solving everyday problems and growing their business at an exponential rate.
Social entrepreneurs helping us to care for an improve our environment, and giving communities new opportunities whether they’re on farms or in film studios.
Inspiring young people using their passion for music, cinema and technology to make an impact no matter their age.
I was lucky enough to attend the final for the Central and South East Asia Enterprise challenge yesterday – a British Council/Make your Mark collaboration following on from Global Entrepreneurship Week, involving thirty young people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
The event took place (appropriately!) at Shakespeare’s Globe. It was truly inspiring to see the participating young people, having been fired up by a GEW event taking forward their enthusiasm and coming up with tangible solutions to the problems faced by their communities.
I am a Make Your Mark Ambassador and I was invited to speak to the fashion students yesterday at the Leeds College of Art!
Being a women in business, I am often called upon to deliver talks to schools when they have an Enterprise programme or to take part in a Business Studies class. The fashion students wanted to hear about my career path from when I was at fashion college (I went to the London College of Fashion) through my PR career and ending up running my own business. They are doing a Case Study on my business to see how my creative background has influenced my current role and how creativity plays a part in commercial business.
Make Your Mark Ambassador Rob Williams has died in a tragic accident in the Swiss Alps. Rob and his business partner Jason Tavaria, founders of Dolphin Music, have been Make Your Mark Ambassadors and supporters of the campaign since October 2006. They were among the very first supporters of the Make Your Mark campaign in the North West region and were especially supportive of the Make Your Mark in Music project, which inspired more young people to forge careers within the music industry. In 2007, Rob and Jason were finalists in the Enterprising Young Brits Awards and went on to be the fastest growing company in the North West that year.
Have you thought of being your own boss, of being an entrepreneur? Maybe you are an entrepreneur. Can you explain it in a video?
The European Commission is looking for videos that explore one of the following subjects: “The entrepreneurial spirit”, “Innovative Entrepreneurship”, “Responsible Entrepreneurship”
For the best video in each of the three categories the European Commission will award a prize of € 3,000, the second best video will be awarded € 2,000, the third best € 1,000.
The producers of the best videos will be invited to the opening event of the European week for small and medium sized enterprises on 6 May 2009 in Brussels, Belgium. Enter here.
A hat from Girls Make Your Mark Award winner Pachacuti is featured on handbag.com and according to the site’s lifestyle editor Alaina has been doing really well in terms of web hits. Fab stuff! It’s great to see entrepreneurs competing for space with the bigger brands on top fashion sites like handbag. Who would you like to see on the site? Let us know and we’ll pass your top tips back to handbag.
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