People like us

I found myself strolling down Great Portland Street, in Central London, bright and early last Thursday morning. The occasion? Wednesday night had seen the premiere of ‘The Junior Apprentice’ and Radio Newcastle were keen to hear my views. So there I was: double espresso in hand, trying to hunt down an elusive BBC studio.

The show’s timing was quite interesting, given that our new government had just been formed and how politicians can help people into business will no doubt pop up on the agenda at some point in the near future.

Getting young people involved in enterprise is a big personal interest of mine, and I want to highlight an initiative that I think is doing a great job. My own opinion is that shows like ‘The Apprentice’, ‘The Junior Apprentice’ and ‘Dragons’ Den’ are hugely important in making the route of ‘entrepreneur’ a viable and respected career path but someone needs to step in on the ground. That someone shouldn’t be government.

Last week saw the awards presentation for the Make Your Mark With A Tenner competition. The idea is simple: loan £10 to 28,000 schoolchildren and see what they can do in a month. I’ve known about the competition for a few years now, but only this year did I begin to take an active involvement with it, as an ambassador for Enterprise UK.

And wow. If anyone ever questions the enterprising spirit of the youth of today, just point them towards one of the schools taking part in Tenner. I spent an hour back in March in a school in Newcastle (my old school’s arch rivals, as it happened) listening to some of the ideas that the kids had, and I was frankly amazed.

If the success of Scott Chapman, who turned his tenner into £537, is anything to go by, we are in good hands.

The key to getting young people to take the leap shouldn’t lie with central government. Nor should it lie with Business Link or the country’s regional development agencies. It’s down to initiatives like Make Your Mark. It’s down to people like us.

Like you.