Enterprise UK Blog

If ever a day fell firmly into the “weird and wonderful” category this was it! At 9am this morning, I was standing outside a fog-bound old theatre in Lowestoft waiting to judge a Dragons Den style pitch, and at 9pm tonight was sitting in a room of 200 women at a fashion show next to Anfield stadium in Liverpool. For me, this summed up Enterprise Week perfectly – massively different events, from one end of the country to the other – but with a common theme: young people following an ambition or idea to make it happen.

The day started in a cold, grey and freezing Lowestoft in a scene reminiscent of something from Little Britain: I found the Seagull Theatre, a renovated old building not much bigger than a squash court, but the coach bringing the Make Your Mark with a Tenner finalists broke down and the 6 judges and gathered adults spent 45 minutes mingling. When the kids arrived, they were excited – nine teams would be pitching their ideas for starting a business with £10 – to a Dragons Den style panel of local judges. The old theatre made a great backdrop – the red velvet seats and black stage added to the tension! One by one, the teams came forward, outlined their plans and took questions from the judges and audience.

Today made me realise what a great leveller enterprise is: some of the kids sitting in front of us today were clearly not from well-off families, some lacked confidence and some would struggle to compete physically, but that made it even more rewarding to see them talking with passion about their ideas, and showing a real enthusiasm to make it through to the next round. The ideas included an eco-friendly speaker for mp3 players, an odd-jobs and cleaning business and a car battery charged by magnetic force. For the record, the judges thought each team was good enough to go to the next round and, when we announced this, a dozen whispered “yes” and air punches could be seen and heard from the theatre seats, showing just what it meant to these kids to achieve something. It’s a great feeling to give good news like that!

After a 5 hour drive, from the very east of the country to the far North West, I eventually arrived in Liverpool at 7.30pm, close to the ground of Liverpool FC. Walking into the reception of North Liverpool Academy, was very much like entering the reception of most large seccondary schools. But then I heard the first screams and cheers – and noticed over 200 (mostly) girls and women crowded into the main hall, going wild as the first ‘models’ strutted down the catwalk for the Academy’s ‘Pink and Powerful’ women’s fashion show enterprise event. Students and teachers took part in the show, styled by local professionals and choreographed and organised by fellow students and staff. In between the girls’ strutting their stuff in clothes donated by Littlewoods, the big screen highlighted local women who were making a difference, either through business or social enterprise, with messages about believing in their ideas. Those who’ve been to Anfield will know that it’s one of the less affluent areas of Merseyside and has its share of social problems, but this was a fantastic event that could and should leave a lasting effect on those who attended. When we talk about having an impact on enterprise culture, it’s difficult to think of how better to change attitudes than to put on a feel-good, inspirational event for over 200 local girls and women.

Although many will measure the success of Enterprise Week based on the number of events run, surely the enthusiasm and sense of achievement generated by events like those above are really what it’s all about?

Roll on Liverpool (again!) and Wakefield tomorrow!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 1:04 am and is filed under Local hubs, Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.