At Prime Minister’s Questions today (Wednesday 2 March), Andrew Jones MP asked the Prime Minister if he would join him in encouraging Harrogate and Knaresborough students to get involved in a landmark scheme helping to find the business stars of the future.
The Tenner Tycoon Campaign, spearheaded by Dragons’ Den’s Peter Jones, will see the campaigning charity Enterprise UK loan hundreds of thousands of pounds to young people across the UK to encourage them to start up their own businesses. Participants in Tenner Tycoon will receive £10 and be challenged to make as much profit as they can in a month. As part of the scheme this year, the challenge is to also ‘give something back’. Participants are therefore being encouraged to donate some of their profits to charity and make a difference.
Mr Jones said: “Tenner Tycoon is a great opportunity for students from our area to showcase their skills and gain practical business experience. With the challenge this year to also give something back to the community, students will learn to make a difference while making a profit. This means the whole area will benefit as a result of the campaign.
“The aim of the competition is to generate excitement and enthusiasm for enterprise in our younger generation, and hopefully inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. We need to grow our way out of economic trouble and so I am keen to support the Tenner Tycoon campaign. I know this is something that David Cameron also feels strongly about and so asked the Prime Minister to join me in encouraging students from Harrogate and Knaresborough to get involved in the scheme.”
In his reply to Mr Jones, the Prime Minister David Cameron said: “It sounds like an excellent scheme and I think we should encourage business and enterprise to go into our schools to encourage young people to think about a career in starting up businesses and in enterprise. I think it’s a very important part of a rounded education.”
Tenner Tycoon was launched on the 1 March and is the UK’s largest ever enterprise competition for schools – a reported 40,000 schoolchildren across the UK have already signed up. With the campaign previously inspiring thousands of students to start their own business it is hoped many more this year will make use of the £400,000 fund.
Peter Jones, whose charitable foundation is supporting Tenner Tycoon, said: “I am convinced that by instilling a more entrepreneurial culture in our schools we will encourage many more people across the UK to start their own business.
“Tenner Tycoon challenges thousands of young people to come up with enterprising ideas that can make a profit, make a difference and give back to good causes. We have seen hundreds of excellent examples up and down the country and I am constantly amazed at the incredible ideas and results that young people can generate with an investment of just £10.”
