10,000 teenagers make their mark on society

Make Your Mark With a Tenner, a groundbreaking competition, launches today during National Enterprise Week 2006. 10,000 UK teenagers will be given the chance to show what they can achieve with £10 in just one month. The private venture is supported by Andrew Reynolds, Patron of The Prince's Trust and founder of The Entrepreneur Channel, who has donated £100,000 to give teenagers the chance to prove they are tomorrow's top socially-minded entrepreneurs.

Lending their support at the launch will be internationally renowned entrepreneurs Alex Tew, creator of The Million Dollar Homepage and Tim Smit, Chief Executive of the Eden Project, plus Third Sector Minister, Ed Miliband. Inspired by the likes of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Younis and the Grameen Bank and champion of school dinners, chef Jamie Oliver, this ground-breaking idea could really make a huge positive impact on society.

Andrew Reynolds said: "When I was young, my parents had no money - I was born in a caravan and went to school on the local council estate. I was lucky to have people who motivated me and encouraged me to make something of myself.

"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.

"I am passionate about changing that! We just need to give our kids a leg-up and some motivation. As an Entrepreneur, I am putting my money where my mouth is. Today I'm donating £100,000 - 10,000 tenners to launch 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."

The competition begins on January 29th 2007 and will run for a month, after which the £10 loans are returned and the participants can 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: 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.

Penny Newman, Chief Executive Officer at Cafédirect commented: "Make Your Mark With a Tenner will demonstrate to young people how social enterprises can be successful, by challenging them to seek a social return as well as a financial return for their activities. I wish all those taking part the best of luck, and look forward to seeing the work of some of these budding social entrepreneurs in the future!"

 Make Your Mark with a Tenner aims to give young people the opportunity and encouragement to use their enterprising ideas to positive effect. Participating schools and colleges will be sent an information pack, a cheque to cover the number of young people they have taking part and a set of guidelines. Full information, FAQs, contacts details and registration forms will be available from the competition website.

www.makeyourmarkwithatenner.org

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For more information, interviews or images, please contact Charmaine Colvin or Katie Hyslop at redheadPR on 0870 240 5536 Email charmaine@redheadpr.co.uk or katie@redheadpr.co.uk

Notes to editors:

• Make Your Mark With a Tenner 2006 launches today at Stockwell Park High School, Clapham Road, London, SW9 0AL at 10:30 am.
• Make Your Mark with a Tenner is the brainchild of entrepreneur Oli Barrett. Oli was inspired by media reports of a vicar in Suffolk called Michael Eden, who earlier this year gave his congregation £10 each, encouraging them to turn it into something more.
• Enterprise Insight, which founded the Mark Your Mark Campaign, is a coalition which aims to encourage young people to be enterprising in the broadest sense, to make their ideas real. This is achieved through business start-ups, social enterprise and enterprising behaviour as employees.
• The Make Your Mark Campaign co-ordinates a range of activities and events throughout the year.
• The Big Boost is led by UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs, and is delivered in partnership with The Prince's Trust, ChangeMakers and The Scarman Trust. It aims to help young people aged 11-25 to get their community project and social enterprise ideas off the ground by providing grants and accompanying business support. The Big Boost is funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
• The Young People's Fund in England, launched in September 2004 by the the Big Lottery Fund, aims to put young people at the centre of creating, planning and delivering projects.
• 5% of all businesses in Britain today are social enterprises.
• There are 55,000 social enterprises, generating more than £27bn turnover per year and contributing £8.4bn to GDP.
• National Enterprise Week runs from 13-19th November 2006.
• National Enterprise Week aims to:
  • Promote, celebrate, improve and expand the range of support to young people who want to develop ideas and make them happen.
  • Inspire and motivate young people to be enterprising.
  • Challenge those who influence young people, the media, and policymakers to recognise the significance of enterprise.
  • To get young people excited about the possibilities of starting up a business.
  • To make a step change in the creation of a more dynamic enterprise culture.
• Thursday 16th November is National Social Enterprise Day.
• Social enterprises are businesses working towards not only profit, but positive social or environmental change, with almost all profits being invested back into the cause. Not only can social enterprise inject new dynamism and innovation into the economy, but it can also help in the regeneration of deprived areas and provide new opportunities for personal expression and empowerment.

Awards will be presented to the young entrepreneurs early next year and socially and environmentally conscious businesses will be encouraged to get behind the competition and help young people realise their vision.