Teens told to start enterprise with a tenner

Teenagers across the UK are being asked to put their entrepreneurial hats on as a competition is launched to see what can be achieved with just £10 starting capital.

The Make Your Mark with a Tenner competition, sponsored by the Entrepreneur Channel, will provide 10,000 teenagers across Britain with £10 to prove their worth as top socially and business-minded entrepreneurs.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 70% of 18-24 year-olds think that entrepreneurship is a good idea and 13.4% expect to run a business within three years.

Oli Barrett, founder of the competition, said the project had captured the imagination of many teenagers and schools across the UK.

“The competition will be stiff with so many wanting to make their mark and I cannot wait to hear what exciting ideas and projects come out of the challenge,” said Barrett.

The challenge will run for a month, after which the participants can decide what to do with their profits. Those taking part will be encouraged to make a positive social impact with their ideas as well as a profit.

At the end of the competition, 50 winners will be chosen according to how a big a social impact their projects made.

Professor David Kirby, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Surrey, said the competition was exactly the kind of thing young people should be involved in.

“It will give them the self-belief to enable them to be pro-active – not to wait to be told what to do but to see opportunities and to bring them to fruition,” said Kirby. “In a world that is changing extremely rapidly, these are precisely the sort of people we need.”

© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007