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Search for Teesside's enterprising young brains

A competition to find the next generation of local entrepreneurs is trying to find talented young people who are willing to share how they have turned an idea into reality. ‘Enterprising Young Brits’ is run by the national Make Your Mark campaign which is launching a regional campaign hub Tees Valley later this month.

This year’s competition, which was launched by Chancellor Alistair Darling MP, will take place during Enterprise Week 2007 that runs between 12-18 November and is Make Your Mark’s annual celebration of enterprise.

This year there are five categories:

• Business Entrepreneur –For enterprising individuals who have started their own business, large or small
• Social and Community – For ventures combining the principles of a successful business with an emphasis on the social and environmental benefits it can provide
• Teen – For anybody aged 13–19 who is making an idea happen
• Creative – For enterprising individuals, businesses and endeavours that show creative flair
• High Growth Business (new for 2007) – For start-ups that can demonstrate rapid and sustained business growth

Applications are whittled down to 30 finalists who pitch ‘X factor’ style to a panel of judges, looking for creative ideas which have been turned into reality. Everyone who applies has the chance to take home £1,000 and a trophy as well as becoming one of the country’s most ‘Enterprising Young Brits’. The panel of judges includes representatives from Vodafone, HM Treasury and the Make Your Mark campaign as well as established entrepreneurs.

Pamela Hargreaves, who is heading up the Make your Mark Campaign in Tees Valley, said: “The Enterprising Young Brits competition is about highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit that exists in young people and about inspiring more of them to have an idea and make it happen right here in Tees Valley. For us in Tees Valley this competition is about demonstrating that our young people are just as talented, creative and entrepreneurial as the young people in any other region.”

The deadline for entries is Monday 22 October. Entry forms are available from www.makeyourmark.org.uk/youngbrits.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .