Welcome to this blog that shows how enterprising the city of Hull's young people are. The blog will feature up-dates about the work of the Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership and its support for Global Entrepreneurship Week.
















Tuesday 8 March 2011

Encouraging entrepreneurs is vital for the future - By Tom Bewick

A new review of vocational education misses an opportunity to encourage the promotion of entrepreneurial skills so vital for our future, says Tom Bewick


Alison Wolf's review of vocational education is potentially a retrograde step in terms of making real progress; and not because her central desire to elevate the quality of vocational learning is wrong.


Her report, commissioned by the education secretary, Michael Gove, makes many laudable recommendations. But what is perhaps misguided is the perspective from which many of the assumptions in the report are made.

Wolf, a senior academic from Kings College, provides an academic perspective, and reaches broadly academic conclusions about what is going wrong.

Most would agree that Britain is historically weak in vocational education. We also struggle in the state system to really stretch some of our most able pupils, including ensuring more than 50% of them achieve the basics in both English and maths. But it is a mistake to believe that the answer is a 1950s style of education. Gove welcomed this report so emphatically because it provides the intellectual fire power for his more traditionalist view of education: academic excellence for an elite few, better quality vocational training for everyone else.


The reality is that in today's world young people do not need an either-or approach – academic or vocational – they need both.

Wolf is a fan of the Enlightenment model and laments the fact that in recent years Britain has begun to leave this system behind. Her report highlights the countries that do better, but she omits the fact that they spend on average between 1% and 2% more of their GDP on high-quality vocational training and apprenticeships.
Disappointingly, the report is completely silent on how we develop more entrepreneurial mindsets and skills among our young people. Worrying statistics released last week show that enterprise education is a task in which we, as a nation, are failing.

Make Money, Make a Difference: Backing Britain's Future, a new report from Enterprise UK with research commissioned from YouGovStone, reveals that 53% of young people do not feel they are encouraged at school to be entrepreneurial. One in four admit they get most of their knowledge about business from popular television programmes such as Dragons' Den. Educators need to face up to the fact that our current model is broken. The common belief that a single pathway from school to university is the only way to get a good job no longer holds true.

We must challenge and inspire young people with the idea that they can make it happen for themselves, by nurturing a new culture of enterprise education, embedding the key ingredients of entrepreneurship in the curriculum. Initiatives like Tenner Tycoon, which runs throughout March and loans 40,000 school children a £10 note, are vital to motivating the next generation of entrepreneurs. Over the next few years, the scheme will expand to over 1 million pupils.

In addition, we need to address how we invest in young talent, and this means ending the monopoly universities have over student loans provision. George Osborne's budget at the end of the month should announce a new Youth Investment Trust to replace the Student Loans Company. This would provide young people with access to state-subsidised loans for purposes other than access to higher education, including capital for new start-ups.

Developing a network of truly inspiring entrepreneurial colleges should be our major priority.
By Tom Bewick is chief executive, Enterprise UK

Friday 4 March 2011

Women in business - delivered in the House of Lords by Lord Sugar

My Lords,


I am grateful to have the opportunity to join in this debate. My reasoning will become evident shortly.
In the past 40 years I’ve had the good fortune to employ a number of women in senior executive positions. I have to say that I've found women in business to be very focused, determined and ambitious. Indeed in top management positions, they seem to place no importance on ego building, but simply get on with the job in a very efficient manner. About 2 years ago I was asked to give an interview to 2 lady journalists from the Daily Telegraph. The interview – which was about enterprise, apprenticeships and the young – came to an abrupt halt when they brought up the subject of women in work, pregnancy and childcare regulations.

I’ve found that a bit of sensitivity arises when someone like me speaks out on these matters. It tends to spark off a knee-jerk reaction amongst certain women who don’t seem to hear – or want to hear – what I'm saying. Regrettably, what was reported in their newspaper did not reflect my sentiments, so I am very grateful to Baroness Gould for bringing this debate today, as I'm able to air the point I wish to make – and this time I have Hansard to fall back on for the record. My point is, very simply, that I believe the employment regulations for women – whereby the prospective employer is not able to enquire about the interviewee’s status regarding children and childcare (or indeed their intentions of becoming a parent) – are counterproductive. And I think some women would agree with me on this.

As things stand, regardless of current laws and regulations, interviewers are forced to play out some kind of psychological charade. They know their obligation under law, but effectively make up their mind up in advance about the prospect of employing the person sitting in front of them. I say that women should be forthcoming when interviewed, declaring their status regarding children and childcare – so as to pre-empt any ‘un-ask-able’ questions in the mind of the interviewer – and then focus on the most important thing: to explain what skills they can bring to the company and why they should be employed.

 I for one would be very impressed with a person who settled this matter at the outset, telling me how they’re going to organise their life in order to do their job; how important the job is to them and what they're going to bring to the party. Such people would jump up in my estimation. As I have said, my Lords, I’ve had the pleasure of employing many women in executive positions over the years. The managing director of my French operation had 3 children – in fact she had one of her children whilst employed by me – yet she controlled that market much better than I could have. The same can be said for another lady who ran my Hong Kong branch; a job she did so well, in fact, that I seconded her to the UK to head up my manufacturing operation worldwide.

 Additionally, those of you who are familiar with the television programme with which I'm associated will know that for the last 2 years running, women have won the contest; one of whom is now on maternity leave. She has done a very good job and, of course, the position is completely open for her when she returns. May I also add that my assistant in this programme, Karren Brady (who by the way is the youngest ever woman to be a public company director) has openly managed her life around her children without ever feeling the need to keep it secret.

My Lords, sometimes the law can be foolish and counterproductive. I would urge women going after jobs to be bold and upfront during the interview process. And may I leave you with this final thought – while I have been talking about and referring to ‘the interviewer’, the person most probably imprinted on your mind is a man. This should not be assumed. I have to tell you that this scepticism – the charade so to speak – is played out equally by both genders.

Thursday 3 March 2011

Hull's Enterprising Young People: Bronwyn Wilson

Hull's Enterprising Young People: Bronwyn Wilson: "15 year old Young Entrepreneur, Bronwyn Wilson, has been given her very own window display at 'The Artbox', Newland Avenue, Hull. Bronwyn wa..."

Bronwyn Wilson

15 year old Young Entrepreneur, Bronwyn Wilson, has been given her very own window display at 'The Artbox', Newland Avenue, Hull. Bronwyn was the overall winner at Hull's Badger's Sett competition for the Global Entreprenurship Week November 2010 and received a £1000 business investment from the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank as well as business support and advice from Ruth Badger herself (from BBC's The Apprentice) and Sarah Longthorn from Wedgewelly.


Bronwyn designs and makes her own sewn items, specialising in Business Mascots, as well as Mobile Phone Holders, Cushions, Badges, Pictures and other accessories.
She began her business 'Crazy Critter World' at just 14 and has received help from the Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership who have supported her business venture. The window display opens up an opportunity to display her designs to a wider audience and is proving popular already.The display runs until Saturday 12th March
Charles Cracknell, Hull's Youth Enterprise Manager said:

"Bronwyn has impressed everyone with her determination and commitment to making her business work and is a real star - there is no doubt Bronwyn is a trailblazer for other young people aged under 16 to set up their own business in the city of Hull, all of those who have a viable enterprising idea will get support in the city. We are currently asking young people what type of support that they need to develop their ideas and have launched a campaign with some of Hull's young entrepreneurs to ask the High Street Banks to develop a range of products for young entrepreneurs who are aged under 18."

Bronwyn Wilson said:

" I love designing and sewing them, making people smile and bringing a bit of sunshine to a person's day. I'm very grateful to Kirsty for allowing me the opportunity to bring my designs to people's attention. As I'm approaching 16 I'm hoping to take my business further in the near future and am looking forward to having Crazy Critter World running as a successful business"


The owner of The Artbox, artist Kirsty Burnell said:

"I like to take on a variety of artists and crafts-people and I felt Bronwyn's work spoke for itself. The work I display needs to be good quality as well as sale-able and as unique to The Artbox as possible. I felt Bronwyn's work had a uniqueness and quirkiness that would appeal to different age groups. So far they've been popular with the 20-30's as well as students, teenagers and adults alike. The Crazy Critter World designs have a sense of humour and are bright and colourful as gifts"