Partner Article

Green footprints considered to launch enterprise competition

Students, businesses and business leaders considered their green footprint this week as part of the launch of a national enterprise challenge.

Make your Mark Challenge is the UK’s largest one-day enterprise competition for 14-19 year olds, taking place during Global Entrepreneurship Week on Monday 16 November 2009.

The CBI’s Sarah Green, Newcastle-based ethical party bag production company Pure Pouches, staff at Nissan and Narec and students from Nunthorpe Secondary School in Teesside wore green socks for the day to represent the low carbon theme of this year’s Challenge to consider green business ideas.

Sarah Green said: “This year’s ‘green’ theme fits perfectly with our Great North Revolution campaign which looks at maximising the opportunities for North East businesses in new emerging sectors which can transform our region, such as electric vehicles, energy, digital, new materials, healthcare and life sciences.

“Young people carry a vision. They have the energy to develop themselves, the capacity to innovate and add to the economic prosperity of the region. We need them, their dynamism and their success to respond to the climate change agenda and help us to be at the forefront of a new industrial revolution and to start thinking about ‘green’ jobs as a viable and exciting career option.”

A survey commissioned by Make Your Mark to launch this year’s MYM Challenge, shows over 77% of young people in the North East believe there is a lack of inspirational green entrepreneurs for them to look up to.

44% of those surveyed thought Sir Richard Branson was the “greenest” entrepreneur but couldn’t identify any of Virgin’s green initiatives and practices.

Make Your Mark spokesperson Hannah Bourne said: “It’s clear that young people in North East have not yet cottoned on to what the green jobs of the future might offer. Through this year’s Make Your Mark Challenge they will be given inspirational green models to look up to and will consider the environmental impact of their business ideas. We hope this will begin to open their eyes to new possibilities and future career paths.”

For more information go to: www.makeyourmarkchallenge.org.uk.

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