social enterprise

This article is provided courtesy of the news feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news

Young entrepreneurs are being encouraged to explore ideas that pay off for their local communities.

The Big Lottery Fund is backing this year's Make your mark with a tenner initiative with a £250,000 grant to Enterprise UK, which organises the campaign.

Make your mark loans young people aged 19 and under £10 and challenges them to make as much profit and social impact as they can during the month of March through an enterprise which benefits their community.

The Big Lottery grant will be used to extend the initiative into areas of England where young people have previously had little opportunity to gain experience in social enterprise.

More than 16,000 young people took part last year, with the top 50 entries making an average profit of £261.

Deputy director of policy and partnerships at the Big Lottery Fund (England), Margaret Cooney, said: ‘This is a unique opportunity to get some real hands-on experience of entrepreneurship with real money, and offers a chance for initiative and creativity to shine through.’