Enterprise Challenge UK

Enterprise Challenge UK "Working Together to Promote Enterprise and Entrepreneurship"

Enterprise Challenge UK is a business that aims to promote enterprise skills and qualities in young people, to get young people to understand that running your own business is a real career option and to make our young people more work ready by opening their eyes to the world of work.

Enterprise Challenge UK works with schools throughout the UK to help students in secondary education to understand enterprise education from real business people.

Currently there are two programmes on offer to the schools:

Enterprise Challenge Days "Challenging Your Entrepreneurial Skills"

Enterprise Challenge Days aim to challenge young people to appreciate and understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur and that running your own business is a real career option.

The objectives of the Enterprise Challenge Days are to allow young people to experience the challenges that face those that wish to start their own business through a series of practical activities.

These activities will challenge their entrepreneurial skills of:

• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Decision Making
• Creativity
• Motivation
• Problem Solving
• Risk Taking
• A 'Can-Do' Attitude

Experience Enterprise "Turning Your Work Experience Placement into an Enterprising Experience"

Experience Enterprise aims to prepare young people for work experience and to show them how to be enterprising in their work.

The objectives of Experience Enterprise are to help young people to appreciate what enterprising skills and qualities are needed and how they can use these in the work place. It gives those about to undertake work experience the skills to write a good CV and the skills to conduct a successful interview. Included in the programme is an understanding on how to manage a budget, health and safety issues and an understanding of problem solving skills that can be taken in to their work experience placement.

These activities will challenge their enterprising skills and qualitites of:

• Ambition
• Teamwork
• Decision Making
• Creativity
• Imagination
• Organisation
• Problem Solving
• A 'Can-Do' Attitude

Whilst working in schools and colleges with young people Enterprise Challenge UK engages with real business people who give up their time to share their expertise with these young people and share their expectations of young people and thus make young people more work ready.

Evaulation of these programmes have shown them to be very well received by the students and the schools and colleges.

Enterprise Challenge UK continues to work with the schools to deliver enterprise education and make the experience relevant and real.

Nicola Healey

Nicola Healey Enterprise Challenge UK

A Graduate from the University of Leicester where I received a BSc Hons Degree in Geography majoring in Oceanography. Realising that as an academic I had no practical skills to offer a business I went on to the West London Institute for Higher Education to take a RSA Diploma for a Personal Assistant, offered to degree students.

As a result of this qualification I landed myself a position with EMI Records UK in London where I was promoted from PA to the UK Sales Manager, to Album Representative for the Southern Region. I was rewarded with Sales Representative of the Year in 1982.

After raising our family I returned to work and took Further and Adult Education Teaching Certificate and taught in Further Education on a wide variety of academic and business related courses.

I moved on to train unemployed people the skills to enable them to re-enter the workforce including CV writing, interview and business skills.

As European Social Fund Officer in Further Education I was instrumental in project management and delivery.

The last 8 years I have been the Development Manager for Young Enterprise, a national business education charity. Here I developed the entrepreneurial skills of young people in schools and colleges in Bedfordshire and Luton. Highly successful and receiving the accalade of Development Manager of the Year in 2004.

I started my own business Enterprise Challenge UK in May 2006. I now use all the skills I have developed throughout my career history. Having told young people that running your own business is a real career option I am now putting in to practice what I preached.

Enterprise Challenge UK allows me to develop the entrepreneurial skills in young people and make young people aware that they can be enterprising in all walks of life and work. This is a new challenge for me and I am looking forward to developing more and more enterprising programmes in partnership with the schools and colleges whilst at the same time engaging more and more business people who are prepared to give up some of their time to help make our young people more aware of the world of work.