Member Article

Local teenagers to Make their Mark

Regional teens are signing up to compete in a national competition to show what they can achieve with £10 in just one month. The Make Your Mark With a Tenner venture is being supported by Andrew Reynolds, Patron of The Prince’s Trust and founder of The Entrepreneur Channel. He has donated £100,000 to give 10,000 UK teenagers the chance to prove they are tomorrow’s top entrepreneurs. The regional stage of the competition is being managed by regional development agency One NorthEast.

With schools beginning to sign-up across the North East, the competition is already heating up. The challenge begins on January 29 and will run for a month, after which the £10 loans are returned and participants decide what to do with their profit – keep it or develop their idea to make a positive contribution to society.

Participants will be asked to write 150 words on their experiences, with two winners from each school going through to the national finals. Based on the stories submitted, one hundred winners will be chosen; 50 winners will be those who have made the most profit and 50 will be those whose project has made the biggest social impact. The latter 50 winners will also be eligible for a further £1,000 each, thanks to The Big Boost fund for young social entrepreneurs. Prizes will also be awarded for the funniest, most imaginative and unluckiest stories.

Andrew Reynolds said: “These days the papers are full of stories of how British kids are the worst in Europe. They are all labeled as violent hoodies – a yob culture. “We need to give our kids a leg-up and some motivation. I’ve donated £100,000 - 10,000 tenners - to Make your Mark with a Tenner and we’ll show just how resourceful and enterprising kids can be when you point them in the right direction.”

Make Your Mark with a Tenner aims to give young people the opportunity and encouragement to use their enterprising ideas to positive effect. Further information and FAQs are available from the competition website, www.makeyourmarkwithatenner.org.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .