business mentors for local young people

From Peckham Vision Facebook:  Message from The Next Big Thing (www.nextbigthinguk.com).  We are looking for local business people and entrepreneurs from organisations of all sizes to help mentor local young people in two Schools in Peckham and East Dulwich. Next Big Thing is a fantastic enterprise development competition for young people running from January – March 2014.  This is a great opportunity to give something back and utilise your skills and experience to help local young people. Full training and support is provided. Check out this video of the final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NoT_6XiI48. See more below. Please contact nils.bucknell@mysi.org.uk for more information.  _________________________________________________________

Next Big Thing – Volunteer Mentor

“Next Big Thing helps young people from less advantaged areas build confidence, learn about setting up businesses, develop presenting skills and open up new opportunities.”

Next Big Thing (NBT)is a fantastic enterprise development programme for 16 – 18 year olds. NBT utilises the skills and experience of business people and entrepreneurs as mentors and positive role models who offer support, guidance and inspiration to disadvantaged young people. They try to help young people fulfil their potential and create opportunities through developing enterprise and entrepreneurship skills. NBT helps young people improve their self confidence and develop a range of employability skills such as communication an interpersonal skills, team working, organisation, planning, problem solving, working under pressure and to deadlines and negotiation skills. NBT gives young people the opportunity to explore starting their own businesses a career opportunity and develop skills and experience that will help them in what ever next steps they take in life.

Our mentors are a huge part of what makes NBT a successful programme. It is a real opportunity to give something back and help shape the lives of local young people whilst having a meaningful and challenging self development experience. Our mentors tend to get as much out of the programme as our participants.

Teams of 4 or 5 participants work closely with their mentors over8 weeksto develop a business idea. Sessions run for 90 minutes once a week during school time and are delivered by NBT’s professional facilitators. At the end of the programme teams present their business ideas at a Dragons Den style awards final to a panel judges made up of high level business executives. The winner receives £1000 and on going mentoring and support to make their business a reality.

Volunteering as an NBT mentor is a hugely rewarding experience. It is a fantastic opportunity to utilise your skills and experience to help young people. Mentors receive full training and on going support and guidance from our experienced staff.

Mentors should be experienced business people or entrepreneurs. We want our mentors to reflect the diversity of the young people and communities we work with and welcome applications from all backgrounds. Being an NBT mentor is a challenging role. Applicants must be interested in working with and helping young people and have good communication skills. They need to be patient, supportive, creative and resilient able to provide the guidance and encouragement NBT participants need. Keeping a positive and upbeat attitude is the main requirement for our mentors.

We are currently looking to recruit volunteer mentors for our January 2014 programme running in two secondary Schools in Peckham and East Dulwich. NBT relies on volunteer mentors, please get involved and support this fantastic programme.Contact Nils Bucknell, Programme Manager for Next Big Thing nils.bucknell@mysi.org.uk for more information.

 

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