Member Article

Young entrepreneurs 'must focus on marketing'

Judges in a Dragons’ Den-style entrepreneurial competition have highlighted a lack of concentration on marketing in the pitches of many unsuccessful entrants. As a result, teams of school and college pupils from around the North East are being given another chance to hone their ideas, after being invited to attend a workshop by the competition organisers.

Teams from the initial stages of the Big Ideas ICT Youth Challenge, which enters its final stage in July, will spend a day at the Big Ideas centre in Sunderland on Saturday 23 June, where they will be presented to by a leading sales director and a marketing services specialist.

Lisa Smith, Big Ideas Manager, said: “The quality of the entrants’ ideas have been remarkably high since the beginning of the competition, so we are determined to provide continuing support and assist the teams in developing further. As the judges outlined the fact that some of those who haven’t made the final round may benefit from more concentration on marketing in their pitches, we’ve arranged for sales and marketing experts to attend the workshop and address these issues.”

The students will hear presentations from Steve Barnard, Sales Director from UK Biometrics, and Paul Finch, Marketing Services Manager from the North East Business and Innovation Centre. The youngsters will also be provided with advice on how to design attention grabbing promotional materials.

The Big Ideas ICT Youth Challenge began in January this year, when teams from over 300 initial entries presented their ideas to some of the country’s leading business development experts. 17 teams reached the second stage of the competition in March, at which point five teams were selected for the final. They will now go on to attend a week long residential course in July. For more information about the Big Ideas ICT Youth Challenge visit www.bigideasyouthchallenge.co.uk.

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