MicroBizMattersDay on January 8th

The John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank and the Youth Enterprise Team of Hull City Council are to play a significant part in #MicroBizMattersDay on January 8th to celebrate the contribution made by Micro Businesses to UK Economy. As part of the day, micro businesses across the UK are being encouraged to give 8 minutes of their time to support to other micro businesses. In Hull the JCYEB has commissioned a video featuring Weasie Wears, Apple Pear, Engaging Education, Labrascals and Millie Rose that will be used on the day as part of the Enterprising Young People Hour, in the video the Hull young entrepreneurs will be giving 1 minute tips on youth entrepreneurship and the Big 13 enterprise skills.

Councillor Martin Mancey, Portfolio Holder

“ It’s fantastic that young entrepreneurs in Hull are supporting Micro Biz Day 2016 by playing an active part in the Enterprising Young People Hour and by giving up their time to support other young entrepreneurs across the UK . Hull’s involvement  in this annual day of recognition, action and learning further illustrates our commitment to youth entrepreneurship and micro businesses”

Tina Boden Founder of Enterprise Rockers and Micro Biz Day

“ We are delighted that Hull  through its work in supporting micro businesses, in particular young entrepreneurs, will be joining us on 8 January 2016 as part of Micro Biz Matters day, on the day hundreds of thousands of micro business owners – we really hope it will be 1 million – will be giving 8 minutes (or more) of their time to help other micro business owners somewhere in the world. The three main areas of focus for #IGave8 minutes of action to help other micro enterprise owners are Customers, Cash flow and Confidence”

Ross Bennett Chair Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership

“Young people who set up in a business are just like any other person that does apart from one key fact that there is a tendency for organisations and large businesses not to take them seriously yet they, like all micro businesses, are playing a vital role in ensuring that our economy turns the corner. Britain’s micro businesses in general and younger entrepreneurs in particular are almost twice as optimistic about the future growth of their business compared to older peers.

So in a nutshell it’s not always about high growth and expansion for young people, it’s about enjoying what they are doing and many are wanting to put back into their community, not because it’s the trendy thing to do but because it’s the right thing to do and for that reason I am pleased that so many young people are making a contribution to #MicroBizMattersDay 2016.”

Further information

MICRO Biz  Day is run by Enterprise Rockers and SAGE with backing from PolicyBee, Lorraine Allman and Adrian Ashton
www.microbizmattersday.rocks

The JCYEB supports young entrepreneurs in Hull and East Riding www.youthenterprise.co.uk

Five Hull schools chosen to take part in Greenpower enterprising schem

Five primary schools in Hull are to be supported by young entrepreneurs Engaging Education and the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank to get involved with the STEM initiative, a programme run by the Greenpower Trust who work closely with Siemens. 

The project is aimed at promoting sustainable engineering to young people by teaching them how to design, build and race electric kit cars in school teams, whilst exploring the science, technology, engineering and maths skills required to develop their teamwork and leadership qualities, forming part of the Big 13 Enterprise Skills. 

Kevin Wilkinson, Financial Controller at Siemens, said: 

"I was really pleased with the enthusiasm and quality of submissions by all the schools entering the Greenpower Trust competition. The understanding of the Big 13 Enterprise Skills and the impact a Greenpower project can have on pupils was encouraging to see, therefore it was very difficult to choose a winner. 

"However, given what I've seen in the submissions, I'm sure all the schools involved in Greenpower projects will gain a lot from the experience." 

Councillor Martin Mancey, Portfolio Holder for Energy City, said: 

"The council is pleased to be working with Siemens, Engaging Education and the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank on this great project with Greenpower Trust, in order to ensure that young people across the city can find out more about enterprising and STEM. 

"I look forward to seeing the cars once they are built by the schools." 

All primary schools across the city took part in the Big 13 Enterprise Skills competition, and the winners include Foredyke Primary (won £500), Cavendish Primary (won £200), Francis Askew Primary (won £200). Gillshill and Biggin Hill Primary School already received £500 towards an IET Formula Goblin Car because of their excellent record of engaging with pupils in the enterprise agenda. 

Sarah Elsom, Enterprise Leader, Foredyke Primary School, said: 

"The children in year five and six are already really excited about this opportunity and want to organize a weekly café for the pupils and parents to raise money. They are also drafting letters to send to local businesses to gain sponsorship and raise the profile of the school." 

Ross Bennett, Managing Director of Engaging Education, said: 

"We are delighted to be sponsoring this great initiative with the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank and Hull City Council, there was some fantastic entries from schools associated with the Be Enterprising Group of teachers and tutors and we are looking forward to working with the young people at the schools." 

Message from Ruth Badger

There is no doubt that Hull and East Riding is the right place to be if you’re a potential young entrepreneur and/or a student wishing to develop your enterprise skills. This year Hull has seen its highly successful John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank not only win the Department of Business Innovation and Skills Enterprising Britain Award, but it went on to represent the UK in the European Enterprise Promotion Awards and gain the runners up position. During the year the JCYEB has supported 25 young people with their business idea working alongside various partners and next year it will be working with London Youth Support Trust and Hull City Council in providing a new incubator service for potential young entrepreneurs.

One of the great things about the JCYEB is that not only has it supported with training, a grant and mentored 100's of young people with their business idea, it is a cornerstone of Hull's youth enterprise eco-system as many of those that have received support from it have made donations to it or acted as mentors to potential young entrepreneurs. Along with the City Council it also supports the Hull Youth Enterprise Awards and I was pleased that this year they established the enterprising student award in memory of one of Hulls great head teachers Jane Disbrey, who I had the privilege of meeting on a number of occasions.

During Global Entrepreneurship Week in November the Hull City Council, supported by the Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership, and with the support of the business community, managed to organise some fantastic events in the area this year. I have to say it was the best ever and for the 12th year running in Hull we saw people supporting your students to develop their enterprising skills. It was very rewarding in the evaluations to see that 60% of the young people who participated in the week said they are now more confident about understanding youth entrepreneurship and 70% of young people involved in the week said that they talked about enterprise at school & college in Hull.

Two of the most rewarding statistics from this years evaluations completed by the young people taking part in the week, was 65% of young people said they are more positive about self-employment as a career choice compared to before the week, and 30% of young people who took part said that they had or would pass on their experiences and/or knowledge to others again. Finally, 80% of young people who took part in the activities in Hull said that they would now be proactively taking action towards their entrepreneurial goal.

There is no wonder that the city gained the High Impact Award for its work during this important week from Youth Business International who runs the week in the UK on behalf of the Kaufman Foundation.

One of most rewarding initiatives in the City is Make £5 Blossom whereby a school gets a loan from a business of £150 and they get to work with that business on an enterprising idea. Any profits made are then split between the school and Hull's exciting Be Enterprising Group of teachers and tutors who are developing enterprising curriculum materials and have recently developed a web based enterprise game. I know of no other place in the UK where young people are so involved in the enterprise agenda and helping to raise funds to develop curriculum materials as well as enterprise training - Hull really has developed a youth enterprise eco system.

So all in all Hull has supported many 100's of enterprising young people, either by developing their enterprise skills and/or helping them to set up in business with the support of the Youth Enterprise Bank, so we look forward to even more success in 2016 with the support of the local business community. If you want to sponsor or mentor a young entrepreneur or support students to develop their enterprise skills then get in touch with Mike Notarantonio michael.notarantonio@hullcc.gov.uk to find out how you can help our enterprising young people.

I look forward to getting involved in more enterprising activities in Hull in 2016, especially in supporting a group of young entrepreneurs who are to visit South Africa on an exchange, and the fantastic STEM/Enterprise project the city is running with The Greenpower Trust and schools supported by your business community and young entrepreneurs like Thomas Arran Photography, Labrascals and Engaging Education.

I wish you all a Happy New Year.

Ruth Badger
Patron Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership