TV Dragon Challenges North East Teens to Turn Tenners into Turnover

Peter Jones, star of TV’s Dragon’s Den, and Chairman of business-led enterprise campaign Enterprise UK, today invited young people from the North East to enter Make Your Mark with a Tenner.

Now in its third year, the highly successful nationwide competition challenges young people to make as much money and social impact as they can with a humble £10 note - in just one month.

Make Your Mark with a Tenner is now open for registration. Schools and colleges in the North East have until February 11 to register students to take part in the exciting initiative and secure a share of the £200,000 Tenner ‘bank’ funded by Peter Jones and Michael and Xochi Birch, founders of social networking site Bebo.

Make Your Mark with a Tenner, run by Enterprise UK is open to young people under 19 years olds. Up to twenty thousand young people will each be given a £10 note and will have just one month (March 2010) to come up with creative, enterprising ideas to multiply their money.

Once the £10 loans have been returned at the end of the competition, participants can either keep their profits to develop their business idea further or donate them to a good cause.

Some of the schools in the North East that have already signed up to the Make your Mark with a Tenner challenge include, Longbenton Community College in Newcastle, Windlestone School in County Durham, Darlington College and Teesdale School in Barnard Castle.

Commenting on the competition, Dena Dalton, business studies teacher at Teesdale School in Barnard Castle said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner allows our GCSE business studies pupils to see firsthand the benefits of enterprise.

“I think it is a fantastic project that allows them the opportunity to set up their own business in a very creative and innovative way. It really is an inspirational way to learn by enabling them to apply many of the business concepts and issues they have studied whilst also offering them the chance to make a profit.

“There is the additional incentive in encouraging them to think about a social impact. I’m really looking forward to watching their ideas come to life and encouraging possible future entrepreneurs.”

Launching the competition, Peter Jones, chair of Enterprise UK said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner empowers young people to make their ideas happen. We know that young people are increasingly concerned about the challenges society faces, and we’re aiming to show young people that by acting on an enterprising idea, it is possible to make money and a real difference.

“Make Your Mark with a Tenner harnesses the unrivalled energy and creativity of young people. Their fantastic achievements increase each year that we run it, proof that if you trust young people to act entrepreneurially they will rise to the challenge. I encourage every school and college in the North East to sign up to this, our biggest year to date.”

Sixteen thousand young people took part in the 2009 competition generating an average individual profit of £42. Teenager Henry Pearce from Kent led the field with largest individual profit of £736, for a fashion show project. National Enterprise Academy students in Amersham scooped the largest group profit of £765 which they then donated to The Make-A-Wish-Foundation.

Enterprise UK head of North East region Louise Kempton said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner is all about trusting young people to show their tenacity and entrepreneurial skills. I’m sure students in our region will prove themselves to be a brilliant investment.”

Make Your Mark with a Tenner is a collaboration between Enterprise UK and entrepreneur Oli Barrett. Commenting on the 2010 competition Oli said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner hopes to prove that you don’t need millions of pounds, or even several years to create something worthwhile. Learning about business and making a difference go together and should be fun. The big challenge this year is to spread the word across the North East and to get as many schools signing up as possible. It’s been a tough year for the economy and although a month isn’t long, I’m hoping that thousands of pupils from across the region will rise to our challenge”

Teachers and tutors can enter the competition on behalf of their school or college by completing an application form at http://www.enterpriseuk.org/tenner

Flora presents Black Cats Kitchen

If we can, you can member Flora Conway of Xena Events is proud to present an exciting event coming to Sunderland's Stadium of Light on Tuesday, 30th March 2010

At the 'Black Cats Kitchen', world renowned chef Marco Pierre White serves up a sizzling evening's entertainment as he is joined by Sunderland's first team players.

Three of the players will be chosen to enter the kitchen with Marco to help prepare what will be a fantastic dining experience, with each of the three team mates cooking a different course.

You can particpate in the fun and vote for your favourite course. The best voted chef will be announced during a live question and answer session after dinner, featuring Marco and his special guests.

6 - 6:30pm arrival

Dress code: Lounge suit

Includes champagne reception with Marco and his special guests, plus three course meal and half a bottle of wine per person

Tickets £145 + vat per person

Special offer announcement: Group bookings can benefit from a free place when booking 9 or more places. Contact Flora at Xena Events on 0191 370 1144 or email info@xenaevents.co.uk for all booking enquiries and to receive this special offer

The Region's Untapped Potential Unveiled At Enterprise Event

Results of a national enterprise research study that shows the North East’s ‘untapped potential’ will be unveiled at a free event hosted by Enterprise UK and One North East this month.

The ‘Beyond Self Starters’ event will be held at The Assembly Rooms in Fenkle Street, Newcastle from 12:30pm to 4:30pm on 29 January. It will showcase the different entrepreneurial types in the North East and examine the different motivations people have to become entrepreneurs. Many of our If we can, you can members will feature as the case studies.

The Untapped Potential Survey was carried out by GfK NOP (a leading market research and consumer insight agency) amongst 1500 members of the public in England. The aim of the research was to segment the general population (aged 16+) based on their attitudes towards enterprise and entrepreneurial behaviour.

One North East and Enterprise UK furthered this national research by carrying out the Untapped Potential survey amongst a booster sample of 600 people in the North East, to produce robust profiles of the segments for the North East.

In total, seven clusters or ‘personality types’ were identified from the data, which will be unveiled at the event. The North East appears to have a smaller proportion of ‘Self Starters’ compared to the national profile.

Louise Kempton, Head of the North East region at Enterprise UK said: “Self Starters are incredibly entrepreneurial and represent the Holy Grail for enterprise agencies, coaches and other business support agencies. They are very positive about starting a business, believe they have the skills to set one up, and they tend to be less bothered by the chance of failure than others.

“Yet, achieving the number of start-ups to meet the region’s enterprise needs, requires a far greater contribution from other potential entrepreneurs – we have a great amount of untapped potential in the North East and we need to bring that out in people.”

Tim Pain, Head of Business, Enterprise and Skills at One North East said: “The results of the Untapped Potential research allow us to understand the different attitudes to enterprise so we can better target and tailor support. This research gives us a much better understanding of how we can promote enterprise and business to all kinds of people in the region, and therefore increase start up rates across all groups.”

Attendees at the event will include Peter Grigg, Head of Policy at Enterprise UK, who will present the Untapped Potential Research. Other attendees will be invited to share best practice and advice on encouraging and promoting enterprise for different groups.

The Enterprising Places Network, which is jointly funded by One North East and Enterprise UK is a year-round programme of events showcasing the impact of enterprise and the role it can play in transforming places and regenerating communities.

The event in Newcastle is just one of a wider series of Enterprising Places Network events happening around the country. The events aim to showcase innovative local approaches to enterprise with a view to stimulating an increase in the number of enterprising places.

To register for this event log on to: http://enterprisingplacesbeyondselfstarters.eventbrite.com/ or, to join the network please visit www.enterpriseuk.org.uk/epn

Full details of the research will be available the event.

O Is A Golden Twit!

O Communications has been awarded two gongs at the Golden Twits awards in London, for its use of Twitter.

Commended in both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer categories, O Communications was ranked in the glittering awards alongside Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne and TV’s The Meerkat.

The inaugural year for the awards that celebrate the most effective, funny, unusual and informative Tweeters from around the world, the Golden Twits asked Twitter users for their recommendations the their favourite people to follow.

Kari Owers, MD (Twitterer in residence) at O Communications, said: “O has been into Twitter from the very beginning; we make it our business to know what social networks are emerging and use them widely for both ourselves and our clients.

“My Tweets range from what’s going on within the agency, the global media scene, our client campaigns and sometimes my own ramblings....I was quite amazed to find out we’d won at the Golden Twits and my followers have gone through the roof since. Oh the pressure to be even more interesting now...!”

Other winners at the Golden Twits included The Carphone Warehouse, Miller Homes, Channel4Homes, KeepBritainTidy and Amnesty International.

Follow Kari on www.twitter.com/ocommunications

MaoCouture Prom Show

In September 2006, Anh Mao started her business, MaoCouture, in the corner of her garage armed with two very old sewing machines. She wrote down all of her different ideas about how her ambitions could be accomplished using as little money as possible.

Anh says of the time, “It was very hard and there were lots of times where I wanted to give up, but I was determined to keep going.”

She has since designed for Miss England and Miss World, and has sat on the judging panel for the Miss and Mr England final. Her dream of moving the business from her home to a commercial space was realised in 2008 after the demand from her clients reached boiling point. Anh opened the MaoCouture Designer Boutique on Station Road in South Gosforth, which stocks exquisite cocktail and evening dresses.

Now, in coalition with local school and college students, she is proudly presenting the North East’s largest prom show on Sunday 31st January at the Holiday Inn, Seaton Burn Newcastle and she would like to invite businesses in the North East to take a stand at this prestigious event.

Anh is inviting local businesses including event/party planners, limo/car hire, photographers, suit hire, prom dresses, accessories for boys and girls, hair and beauty salons and male grooming. This Prom show will get all the students really excited before the big day.

The event will be broadly advertised across North East homes, businesses, schools and colleges. Tickets cost £3 and all tickets will entitle guests to a raffle draw to win lots of prizes, from accessories to discount vouchers donated from exhibitors and a MaoCouture prom dress and suit hire.

To enquire about booking a stand, please contact Anh on 0191 285 3864 or visit http://www.maocouture.co.uk/

Exhibition spaces are limited and operate on a first come first serve basis. All booking forms and cheques must be received by 15th January 2010.