Last chance for schools and colleges across the South East to enter make your mark with a tenner

Peter Jones, star of TV’s Dragon’s Den, and Chairman of business-led enterprise campaign Enterprise UK, today invited young people from Milton Keynes 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 South 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, the 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.

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 Sussex to sign up to this, our biggest year to date,” added Peter Jones.

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.

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 South 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”

Enterprise UK’s Deputy Chief Executive Scott Cain said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner is all about trusting young people to show their tenacity and entrepreneurial skills. Young Brits prove themselves to be a brilliant investment.”

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

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