Enterprise UK Blog

Last week I managed to bag myself a ticket to the media140 Third Sector event held at We Are Social in London. The event focused on how Social Media is and can be used in third sector organisations with talk and debate from leading advocates in the industry. Safe to say being a bit of a social media geek I lapped up the opportunity to engage with like minded thinkers and was interested to see how charities and organisations across the spectrum of size and notoriety approached this. Here were some of things I took away..

None of us can have escaped the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti over the last few weeks.
Our friends at Save the Children have come up with a truly unique way of raising money for Haiti’s children, teaming up with corporate partners and utilising social media to create a business competition.

The Business Heroes campaign (www.businessheroes.org.uk) gives companies or individuals the chance to test their business skills by coming up with the idea that raises the most money for the charity.

A new batch of statistics were released by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor last week that together gave a fairly comprehensive view of the current state of global enterprise.

The headline figure - showing that fewer people in the UK had expressed an interest in starting and investing in a new business in the past year - was ostensibly discouraging. 

A closer look, however, revealed that Britain’s commitment to entrepreneurialism withstood the challenges of the recession as well as, if not better, than many of her competitors. For example, although Britain saw a six per cent decline in new start ups in 2009, this compared favourably with a decline in Germany of nine per cent, and a decline in the United States of 24 per cent.

So, that was Global Entrepreneurship Week, that was.

What a week. I attended a microscopic fraction of even the events that were held in UK: the people who attended even this tiny sample of events were drawn from all walks of life and each had their own highly distinctive story to tell. If the week taught me one thing, it’s that entrepreneurs defy easy characterisation and stereotyping.

Global Entrepreneurship Week sparked a great deal of discussion, debate, and exchanging of ideas online too. The blogosphere was particularly energetic in its coverage of the Week.

From humble beginnings, Global Entrepreneurship Week has come a long way in a short time. What started as a small bunch of people has grown into a truly global movement, with 88 countries, 17 of which have gained support from their Presidents, Prime Ministers, Princes and Princesses.

This year, the United Nations HQ in Geneva joined in, with a week long series of workshops that was launched with an Inauguration Cocktail on Monday, attended by UN staff and Mission Delegates from more than 50 countries.

As I set out on the road yesterday with my lovely colleague Eimear, visiting us from London, I was prepared for a long, busy day, of Global Entrepreneurship Week event reporting.

Boy were we pleasantly surprised when at our last event of the day, feeling a little weary to say the least, we were offered some complimentary stress relief!

Our final stop of the day was Hexham for the launch of a brand new enterprise, Sound Touch, run by Johanna Sheehan. The company uses a combination of sound vibration and massage techniques to create a sense of calm and relaxation.

It’s 10:30am on Monday morning, the first day of Global Entrepreneurship Week and I am on my way to the North East launch event, The Secret to Global Sales on a Shoestring. Set at the Baltic Gallery of Modern Art the setting is perfect for great photos, PR and a general buzz of excitement from all of the guests.

Unfortunately Mother Nature has other ideas and has proceeded to drench the city with a steady torrential downpour of rain resulting in accidents on the two major routes into the city and floods causing other delays elsewhere.

Last night I spoke to one of my friends, a recent graduate, who has been unemployed for a number of months – a situation I remember well after leaving University, unlike my contemporaries, without a job in the city lined up. We chatted about the sense of worthlessness, the fear and panic that at not having money coming in, and the difficulty in knowing who to turn to. Whatever the latest stats on youth unemployment (out next month) are – they won’t show the real effect that this these problems are having.

So I’ve rocked up in Istanbul to meet with some of the finest entrepreneurial characters Europe has to offer and WHAT a first day i have had.

This morning, I joined Alev, our host for GEW Turkey at her offices along the Bosphorus coast. Alev works for Endeavor, one of our global partners and an impressive organisation who work in emerging economies, nurturing high-growth entrepreneurs. Endeavor Turkey’s offices are an oasis of entrepreneurial zen, nestled on a hillside, surrounded by mediterranean greenery and I’m sure I saw a pool at the end of the garden.

Yesterday the results of a surveyidentified David Beckham as the best role model for British children. Cheryl Cole came second in the poll with Homer Simpson coming out as the worst role model.

So in one respect they are both successful and wealthy, but in another how suitable are they for young people to identify a sense of reality when it comes to what young people can expect.

Having the chance to work with fantastic people like our Make Your Mark Ambassadors, who have worked hard to achieve success they are the ones who young people should be encouraged to look up to.

Do you view celebrities as entrepreneurs?

Their are some very interesting views on this one in the Make Your Mark Forum, to find out what they are join in and have your say. From Rhianna umbrellas to Bill Oddie Binoculars.

Join in on the forum and wet your entreprenuerial appetitie with topics from your big idea to being networked.

See you in the forum!!!!!

We all know our TV entrepreneurs, so it has been great looking a lot closer to home, where we have been speaking to super parents of the fabulous Make Your Mark Ambassadors.  There are lots of juicy insights and the nice bits entrepreneurs wouldn’t tell you about themselves(First ventures in the playground and the lows they would prefer to forget about!!)

Parents have shared their story of supporting their children on their entrepreneurial journey and they have given us some fantastic words of advice to help support other parents who have children wanting to take the enterprise route to success.

With so many young people collecting results for exams almost half of young people turn to their parents first for advice and guidance on career routes and educational next step.

Directgov revealed some very interesting research last week about parents worrying about giving their children the right advice. With more than one in four parents not being fully aware of the options and services available to theirchild the numbers are quite high in response to their findings, Directgov have launched a new online resource called What’s Next a joint initiative between Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business Skills and Innovation and Department of Children, Schools and Families.

– “MOVERS & CHANGERS” CHALLENGES STUDENTS TO ADDRESS SOCIAL ISSUES WITH CREATIVE BUSINESS IDEAS FOR $25,000 PRIZE –

– MTVU PROFILES FINALISTS IN NEW SERIES PREMIERING NOVEMBER 23RD –

New York,  NY – August 20, 2009 – MTV’s 24-hour college network mtvU and NYSE Euronext (NYX) today  launched “Movers & Changers,” a  nationwide challenge to uncover the country’s next social entrepreneurs who are poised to make a positive impact on society through their innovative business concepts.