If the future of UK plc is going to be secured through the growth of the private sector, then Young Enterprise – the inspirational charity that places business people, senior company staff and entrepreneurs into schools – can only help.
Inspired by David Cameron’s Big Society (truly, genuinely), and my wife’s devotion to volunteering in schools, I decided to offer my time to Young Enterprise. From September I will be going into a school as a Young Enterprise volunteer. And I am very excited.
(I should also note, and in the spirit of ‘upward management’, that Dan – our managing editor here – has also told me to ‘pull my finger out’ and get blogging on behalf of the company to generate some good SEO – that’s Search Engine Optimisation to you and me).
Established in the 1960s, Young Enterprise now reaches over 300,000 UK students a year and is supported by a network of over 5,000 volunteers from many 1000s of companies.
Real business
The programmes offered range from bank staff teaching primary school children about saving and earning to established entrepreneurs helping teenagers set up and operate their own real business.
As volunteers we can give up anything from one day a year to one morning a week. I am hoping to get onto a Company Programme – helping teenagers in a specific school to start a business – and will also hold the odd Master Class, which will involve me talking to students at a number of schools about starting and growing a business.
Last night I attended the finals of the Innovation Awards for the London branch of Young Enterprise at the Credit Suisse building in Canary Warf. The competition celebrated the business ideas and achievements of thousands of students who had started a business last September. In fact, over 50% of secondary schools in London now have some kind of relationship with Young Enterprise.
From recycling second-hand buttons into jewellery to custom design ipad and iphone covers, there was no shortage of lively ideas. Obviously, the one clear advantage of being a business run by school children is that you don’t have to pay proper wages! Although it was great to see some of the students talk about paying some kind of wage to anyone who worked on a business, in order to simulate the pressures that businesses come under.
The winners were a class from Tiffin Girls School in Kingston-Upon-Thames for the design, manufacture and sale of their collapsible lunch box – called ‘Cielo’ (pronounced like Cello with an ‘I’). Once you’ve eaten lunch, your plastic lunch box neatly flat packs away – saving you valuable space in your bag.
It was impressive and inspiring to see so much creativity, passion and ability from teenagers. I’m sure I didn’t know what a balance sheet was or what cash flow or capital meant until my late 20s. I certainly couldn’t organise myself in the way that these students did.
We live in an age where being your own boss and running your own business is seen as a positive thing to do. TV shows like the Apprentice and Dragons Den have helped. Entrepreneurialism runs deep in Britain’s culture. We’ve been a nation of pirates, imperialists, industrialists and shop keepers. We are innovators – from Brunel to Berners-Lee.
It’s in the nation’s blood – like football and fish and chips. Wind up radios and bagless hoovers – British irreverence declares that everything can be looked at again and improved. For a small nation, we have always punched above our weight.
What impressed me greatly at these awards was the fact that these students – who had very taxing school commitments to juggle – managed to do everything themselves – from raising the capital (by giving away shares in some cases) to design, production, marketing and sales. The flat pack lunch box winners had even managed to secure distribution through a local department store and they were in talks with a local food chain.
Another impressive venture was delivered by St Charles Catholic Six Form College in Chelsea – a booked called ‘InspirAnation’ – which sought to inspire young voters to get voting in the 2010 General Election by collecting the views of 100s of politicians – the great, the good and the corrupt. They turned over around £5,000 in their first six months of operation and at one point the sale of their book had hit number 15 in the Amazon politics charts – even beating the iconic Obama.
It was also amusing but not surprising to hear that Gordon Brown took his book without paying for it but David Cameron paid and let them keep the change! What is that thing they say about actions and words?
If you are a UK-based business person who wants to get involved with Young Enterprise, go to www.young-enterprise.org.uk for more information.
And long live the spirit of British innovation!
