Matt Johnson: An enterprising idea to keep youngsters off the streets

Aug 1 2007 by Matt Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

I HAVE seen an idea recently that I very much like. It’s a bit like an initiative aimed at keeping the young off the streets this summer holiday season.

Ordinarily such initiatives take the form of football or sport activities, but this one latches on to a rising trend in the number of youngsters taking an interest in enterprise, a trend fuelled in part by television programmes like The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den.

Locally, we have a long history of breeding entrepreneurs who invent something profound, revolutionary and long lasting.

Did you know that the person who invented the football net was from Liverpool? Leading up to the start of the next football season, can you imagine how a Saturday afternoon would look without one? Or, what a trip to A&E would be like without X-rays which where also pioneered from Liverpool, and the one everyone will have heard of, Stevenson's Rocket. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best and also the ones that have the greatest impact on our life.

The team at Make Your Mark in Liverpool, along with Lime Pictures are offering one young person between 14 and 30 the chance to win £1,000 simply for their ideas.

Gr8 in 08 is challenging young people to come up with an idea to help Liverpool celebrate its year as European Capital of Culture. All you need to do is state the idea and the five steps to make it happen. Then email that through to helen@makeyourmark.org.uk with GR8 in 08 in the subject box, it is as simple as that.

The competition will be running until August 20 with the winners being announced on Liverpool's 800th birthday.

Enterprise development and creative thinking is so critical for the long term positioning of our city, and it is not just about creating new entrepreneurs. We all need employees now and in the future to be looking at how to improve efficiency, develop new products and exploit emerging markets which all take entrepreneurial thinking.

So if you are looking for something to keep your teenagers occupied this summer, why not get them thinking about the next great business idea.

MATT JOHNSON is chairman of Mando Group