Latest news
Our ambassadors are helping to kickstart a culture of enterprise and inspire young people to make their ideas happen. Read on for the latest news about how celebrities and young entrepreneurs are supporting the campaign.
8 August 2007
A day with young Formula One racing ace Lewis Hamilton was the prize in a competition launched by Vodafone UK, main sponsors of the McLaren Mercedes team, to support the Make Your Mark campaign. The ‘Hot Laps’ winner got a once-in-lifetime opportunity to meet the hottest property in motorsport and the chance to be his passenger around Goodwood’s Motor Circuit!
Lewis is a great example of someone with the drive and ambition to make his idea a reality - when he was nine, he approached Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and told him he would drive for McLaren one day; four years later, he was signed to the McLaren & Mercedes-Benz Young Driver Support Programme.
Lewis has set the sporting world on fire with the greatest debut Grand Prix season in history. Vodafone UK is the main sponsor of the McLaren Mercedes team and the competition was hosted by Guardian Unlimited.
25 July 2007
Coventry-based band The Enemy are lending their support to the Make Your Mark campaign. The band recently hit the number one spot in the album charts with their debut album, We'll Live and Die in These Towns. Earlier this month the band played at the Godiva Festival in Coventry, where they showed their support for the campaign.
Lead singer Tom Clarke said: “If you ask any 16-year-old what he wants to do, he will have loads of dreams and ambitions – he might want to be a musician or a scientist. But it’s important to follow those dreams even if there are some knock-backs along the way.
“When we were starting out we played three gigs at The Hope & Anchor in the city centre. The first night there were only 20 people there, nodding their heads. The second time that crowd had grown and by the third time, there were 200 people who couldn’t get in!
“We feel really lucky that the band is starting to become popular but we know there are loads of talented people in Coventry. That’s why we’re happy to support the Make Your Mark campaign which is encouraging young people in Cov to have ideas and dreams and see them through.”
Read more about The Enemy and the Godiva festival in our Make Your Mark in Coventry section
22 June 2007Liverpool-based band 10 Reasons to Live have shown their support for the Make Your Mark campaign by performing at the launch event of the Make Your Mark in Liverpool Music Challenge.
The band got themselves together the old-fashioned way - they are childhood friends with a shared passion for music. Their first single will be released on 23 July 2007.
The band said: "This is a great opportunity for young people, well overdue and we are very happy to be part of it. Assuring you of our commitment to the campaign and wishing Make Your Mark in Liverpool every success."
8 June 2007
Indie punk band Koopa will today open the Isle of Wight Festival. The band, who made chart history by becoming the first unsigned act to enter the UK Top 40, say that being successful means never selling your audience or fans short.
They're supporting A Grand Idea to Make Your Mark and you can read about how they made their Grand Idea happen here.
6 June 2007
Hollyoaks star, Matt Littler, has put his weight behind a new scheme to encourage students to talk about their ideas, take risks and learn enterprising skills outside of the classroom. “It’s great to be involved at the grass roots level of business,” said Matt. Read more about why Matt is supporting the campaign.
1 June 2007
Electric violinist Linzi Stoppard pushes the boundaries of musical convention with her passionate, live sets of rock, chill, dance and contemporary melodies. Read about why Linzi is supporting A Grand Idea to Make Your Mark.
21 May 2007
Ben Saunders has spent the last six years leading polar expeditions and in October 2007 he's embarking on the SOUTH expedition - the first return journey to the South Pole on foot and the longest unsupported polar journey of all time.
Ben's first expedition was an attempt to ski unsupported from Russia to the North Pole in 2001, but setbacks meant the team didn't complete the journey. This didn't put Ben off his chosen career path though, and his advice to aspiring young entrepeneurs is: "The biggest lesson for me has been that 'failure' doesn’t really mean much at all...The only real failure in life is not even trying in the first place."
Read more about how Ben got where he is today.
16 May 2007
Big names from entertainment and business have put forward their grand ideas in a bid to inspire young people to have ideas and make them happen.
Destiny‘s Child’s Kelly Rowland, Jamelia and award winning hip-hop acts Lady Sovereign and Akala have joined business leaders such as Sir Alan Sugar, John Bird and Tim Campbell in seeking the next generation of entrepreneurs. Read more about A Grand Idea to Make Your Mark.
8 May 2007 Property expert Sarah Beeny is supporting our Girls! Make Your Mark campaign. Sarah self-trained in the building industry, and set up her own property development company at the age of 24 with her brother and boyfriend.
She says: “I’m very driven when it comes to transforming my own ideas into business successes, and believe it’s really important to help other young women and girls to do the same. The Girls! Make Your Mark campaign is key to providing tomorrow’s business minds with strong, realistic role models who can show them by example what the route to success can look like. I look forward to seeing how it changes minds and brings it to the top of the business agenda.”
23 April 2007
Tim Campbell, winner of the first BBC TV series of The Apprentice, recently left Amstrad plc to launch his own premium male grooming business. He is also setting up a social enterprise initiative – The Bright Ideas Trust.
Each year the Bright Ideas Trust will give away £1 million of funding for innovative business concepts, with the aim of starting upwards of 250 new businesses a year. Tim said: “I want the Trust to unleash a wave of creativity among people in the UK and give them an opportunity to run their own enterprise in a practical, hands-on way.”
Tim is a supporter of the Make Your Mark campaign, and explained:
“The Bright Ideas Trust is already connecting with the Make Your Mark campaign. The campaign is an excellent way of inspiring young people to think about setting up their own business as a career option. It’s important to catch young people early and make their foundations strong ones. It's imperative that we not only show pupils in schools the advantages of being more enterprising, but also give young start up businesses the necessary support to make sure their ideas actually turn into tangible businesses for the future.”
15 March 2007
In 1998 Brent Hoberman founder the online travel, ticket and gift business Lastminute.com with Martha Lane-Fox. The company survived the dot-com bubble bursting and Brent remained CEO until 2005.
He is supporting the Make Your Mark campaign. Brent said:
"Many young people simply don’t realise their own potential. By exposing them to teamwork and creativity or skills such as financial planning you can give them the confidence and self belief they need to make their ideas happen."
5 March 2007
Colchester rock band Koopa have made chart history by becoming the first unsigned act to enter the UK top 40.
They are also supporting the Make Your Mark campaign.
Their new single Blag, Steal & Borrow debuted at number 31. How did they managed it? Through downloads.
The band said: “The Make Your Mark campaign is all about making your ideas happen. Koopa started with Oli writing songs and it was Stuart’s idea to talk to Joe who had a recording studio.
"After relentless touring and a chance meeting we got a management contract. The rest is history. Success is all about making the most of your opportunities, hard work and loving what you do. So go for it.”
28 February 2007
Lord Puttnam has offered us his support for Make Your Mark in Film.
His successes as a producer include Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, The Duellists, Chariots of Fire and Memphis Belle. He was Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Pictures from 1986 to 1988
He was knighted in 1995 and created a life peer in 1997, as Baron Puttnam. He also founded SkillSet, which trains young people to become members of the film and television industries and in February 2006, he was awarded the Orange BAFTA Fellow of the Academy.
Lord Puttnam said: "Make Your Mark in Film is all about working as a team. When it all comes together and the credits start to roll I know of no better experience. The actors might be people with their name in lights but it really is a collaboration of minds which makes a film a success."
22 February 2007
Jacqueline Gold is chief executive of Ann Summers and Knickerbox and is one of Britain's most charismatic and successful businesswomen and an inspiration to thousands of women.
She is supporting our Girls! Make Your Mark campaign. She said:"Women should be encouraged in business, and it's a tragedy that there are still so few. If the UK had the same rates of female entrepreneurship as the US there would be 750,000 more female businesses, boosting productivity by up to £23billion a year.
"I was very encouraged to hear about the Girls! Make Your Mark campaign which is providing a positive and practical way to encourage more young women to become entrepreneurs.”
15 February 2007
Jake Maskall, who recently played Danny Moon in EastEnders and the starring role in Christopher Marlowe's Mephistopheles, is supporting Make Your Mark in Film.
He has answered our question about getting into acting. You can read his answer here.