What are you responsible for at YE? Running Tenner and Fiver Challenge. both are free national enterprise programmes and around 77 000 young people will be taking part this year.

Describe a typical working day? From communicating with schools all over the UK, designing content on website, writing copy for marketing campaigns to designing the resources available online. I am also responsible for all the competitions we run weekly and nationally and organising the two national awards events. No day is ever the same!!

 What attracted you to working at YE? I am passionate about supporting young people and helping them to find a rewarding future in work and life.  I like working with a charity and people, that I feel, can really make a difference.

 What are the best bits about your role? Hearing feedback from people who took part, even if for some, the challenges didn’t always quite go as planned.  It’s important that everyone has the chance to find out about their interest and talent at school and have opportunities to build character development from a young age. That’s when the job satisfaction really kicks in.

What is something you have learnt in the last week?  We have a 10 minute “grace period” to avoid getting hit by fines when parking tickets run out. Just saying…!

 What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this? I’d be a DJ – I’m seriously thinking about buying a mixing deck! My family will be so relieved I didn’t say a singer!

Who inspires you? Impossible to name just one person – I most admire people who have a passion about all they do, and I’ll look for integrity and courage too. For me, it’s always following this inspiration that leads to action.

What would you most likely tell yourself at age 13? Don’t give up on sport – you will one day run the London Marathon (I did both!)

 What does true leadership mean to you? Calmness, excellent motivator and always ready to listen and take on change to get the results!

What three traits define you? Positive, energetic and probably too enthusiastic!

What do you like to do when you’re not working? I go to theatre or live music and walking

What would you name an autobiography of your life? ‘Always and forever…’

If you could pick one superpower, what would it be? Travelling back in time – so many people I would love to have met and maybe even my younger self!

If you’re a school who would like to find out more about participating in the 10X Challenge please visit www.10xchallenge.org.uk or email the 10X team at info@10xchallenge.org.uk.

Tell us a bit about your team and business idea? We are a group of Gaming Level 3 students that decided to provide a retro gaming service for people in the Walthamstow area who might not have been able to afford it. As well as retro games consoles we also have board games, and the latest in VR gaming experience

What was the inspiration behind the idea? The inspiration behind the idea was to cater for people who want to have a nostalgic trip down memory lane playing old games consoles from their youth but also the fact that the gaming community is very welcoming and we wanted to spread that spirit to others who may not usually be gamers, or be able to afford the consoles themselves.

What has been most rewarding about the experience so far? The most rewarding experience has been Seeing the smile on someones face when they revisit a retro game they haven’t touched since their youth, it makes it all worth while!

What has been the most challenging? The most challenge part of our gaming service is making money from our service, our community is very welcoming and we sometimes found it difficult charging people, as small as the fee was, to play our games. This is also due to the fact that a few people would say they could easily go and play the games for free at their home!

Tell us about your Business Advisor and how they have helped through the process? Our business advisors were great! They gave us real life advice that could actually help us expand and make more money. They looked at all our positives but also kept it real with us ny giving us the improvement the service could do with!

What are the top 3 things you have learnt from the experience? Top 3 things we have learnt from our experience is the importance of making your company, product or service sustainable and environmentally friendly, the confidence we have developed in our own ability and how important it is to look after the customers needs!

How has taking part in Young Enterprise influenced your plans for the future? Taking part in YE has influenced my plan for the future by teaching me to have a strong team behind any idea you have, team work really does make the dream work!

What’s next for the team? We will continue to run NEO RETRO throughout our remaining academic year at college and beyond! In fact we already have a spin-off service running in conjunction. Having spoken to the Mayor of Waltham Forest who really liked our idea, we want to look at expanding our gaming service to a wider audience in the borough!

Sum up your Young Enterprise experience in 3 words Fun, Fulfilling and Unforgettable!

If you’re a teacher, school or organisation working with young people and would like to find out more about Company Programme please get in contact with your local Area Manager via our online enquiry form

To find out more about the Start Up Programme click here.

Alternatively contact Project Manager Andrew Firr at Andrew.Firr@y-e.org.uk