The Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign was an initiative dreamt up as part of ‘Enterprise Week’ a government backed programme designed to engage school children in the aspects of Business Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.
Andrew Reynolds was approached to assist with the development of the Make Your Mark with a Tenner initiative as well as fund 10,000 young people across the UK with £10 each. Those 10,000 young people with the support of their schools and fellow classmates were given a month to generate as much profit and social impact as they could.
Over the month the take up and results were far greater than expectations. The highest profit on £10 was £410 – an impressive 4100% increase in a month.
Profits from any business idea were kept by participants, re-invested to continue with their idea or donated to good causes.
Results from the top 50 entrants showed:
Projects varied enormously and ranged from making stone masonry house numbers and everlasting flowers, to salsa lessons and chocolate fountains. The participants made cakes, ran basketball, craft and football coaching sessions, and even recorded and sold original music CDs. Some teams even went as far as to encourage local businesses to match profits, with the promise of then sending all profits to good causes.
One team from Holmer Green Senior school in High Wycombe ran a series of profit-making ideas including a PS2 competition and treasure hunt in to raise £1,000 to help rebuild a school in Kenya. Other charities and organisations that benefited from the Make Your Mark with a Tenner initiative included: Plan International, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Mothers Against Guns and MacMillan Cancer Research.
Andrew Reynolds said “When the Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign was launched there were some skeptical comments from the media, who tried to suggest that young people could not be trusted with the tenners. I’m so pleased that they have been proved wrong. The Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign has inspired young people across the UK on a large scale, and has taught future entrepreneurs the power of joint venturing, teamwork, the role of creativity in business, together with social and financial awareness in a the real world, with real money. Make Your Mark with a Tenner has proved that Entrepreneurship is alive and kicking in the UK!”
As an incentive to the young people taking part, the top 50 profit making entries along with the 50 who were judged to have made the most social impact were given a copy of Change the World for a Fiver and Richard Branson’s Screw It, Let’s Do It, to motivate and inspire them to further their ideas into reality.
The resounding message from students and teachers alike is that everybody taking part not only enjoyed the experience, but also had a greater understanding of social responsibility because of the experience. Nearly half the winning entries solely designed their ideas to benefit others or actually donated their profits, aiding good causes locally, nationally and in some cases abroad.
Contrary to reports of UK kids being the worst in Europe and proving that they can be trusted – over £75,000 of the original £100,000 loan fund has already been returned into the pot to continue funding for future years.
Andrew Reynolds has continued to pledge his initial funding of £100,000 into the project which is now in its 5th year and engaging over 50,000 young people nationwide.