Do you know any aspiring entrepreneurs aged 16–25?
Do you know any aspiring entrepreneurs aged 16-25?
Here’s your chance to help them.
Tell them about The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge—see below for resources to help you get the message out. Applications will close in:
Tell them about The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge – see below for resources to help you get the message out. Applications will close at:
5:00pm, 17th, January 2025
Become a supporter
Interested in helping young entrepreneurs get started? The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge from Verizon and Unloc is back! It can help young people with fresh business ideas turn them into reality with a £10,000 (11,750€*) cash prize, one-to-one mentorship, a trip to the One Young World Global Summit and much much more!
Do you work with 16–25 year olds that have a tech idea that could support one of the UN’s sustainable development goals? This could be their chance to turn their aspirations into reality! The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge can help them get their business off the ground, or boost their existing startup to the next level.
Download our free marketing materials below, use them to get the message out and let’s help young people with their first step on an incredible journey!
Spread the word
Spread the word
Images for social
Digital posters
Posters to print
The prizes
The prizes
One-to-one mentorship
You’ll be paired with an enterprise mentor, who will create an individual plan focused on your key priorities. This could be addressing knowledge gaps or helping match you with contacts or services to help get your business off the ground and into orbit. Along with all finalists, you’ll also get a series of exclusive masterclasses with a variety of industry experts; last year’s masterclasses included business finance, legal structures & R&D.
Cash award of £10K (11.75K€*)
The overall winner will receive a £10,000 (11,750€*) grant to help accelerate their business idea or start-up..
* Approximate Euros equivalent. The actual prize will be calculated based on the exchange rate at the time of the award.
Global One Young World Summit
The winner will also get a trip to the One Young World 2025 Global Summit in Munich. This annual event brings together many of the brightest young leaders from 190+ countries and 250+ organisations. The agenda is packed with events including speeches, workshops and networking events with influential political, business and humanitarian visionaries.
The judging criteria
The judging criteria
Applications will be judged on three key factors:
Is it innovative?
- Is the idea unique?
- Does it have a clear unique selling point?
- Is the technology solving the problem in a creative way or filling a gap in the market?
Does it improve sustainability?
- Will the venture improve people’s lives?
- Will it meet social or community needs in a new way?
- Does it meet or sustain a UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)?
Is it viable?
- Can the plan achieve what it states it will do?
- Does it operate within the budget/ resources currently held or will acquire?
- Is the idea investment ready?
- How will you use the funding if successful?
Eligibility
Applicants must be:
- Between the ages of 16 and 25 years on 1 February 2025.
- Residents and/or citizens of the U.K. or the continent of Europe.
- Immediate family members of the judging panel are not eligible to apply.
- Previous entrants are welcome to re-enter, but previous finalists are not eligible.
Business proposals must:
- Be legal in all mainland European countries.
- Not have the purpose of political lobbying.
- Be the applicant’s own idea.
- Not infringe on the copyright, patent or intellectual property of others.
- Be submitted in English (both written and video).
Businesses must be either:
- Pre-start (not yet trading).
- No more than three years old.
- Have had an annual turnover of less than £100,000 (120,000€) in its most recent financial year. This includes recipients of grants & donations.
Timeline
Timeline
The sponsors
At Verizon, we create the networks that connect people to the things they love, be it businesses to consumers; work teams to work teams; or employees to charities.
We’re problem-solvers, engineers, technologists, innovators and thought-leaders who create the networks that move the world forward. Networks that connect anything to everything and everyone to anyone. Networks built for innovators, entrepreneurs and anyone with the ambition to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.
Our story has been hundreds of years in the making and today businesses use our award-winning networks to make breakthroughs in immersive retail experiences and virtual fashion shows, through to remote healthcare and building revolutionary factory infrastructures to deliver the promise of the digital world.
Unloc is a dynamic social enterprise on a mission to empower young people to be innovative change makers. We strive to encourage entrepreneurial thinking amongst 16-25 year olds, help grow their skills, get a handle on their ambitions and promote alternative career pathways.
Through our wide range of engaging programmes, academies, and courses, as well as our physical Changemaker Studios spaces, digital offer, and touring roadshows across the UK, we provide young people with the confidence, creativity and skills required to be the changemakers of tomorrow.
Through the Verizon and Unloc partnership, The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge provides an extremely valuable platform for young people across Europe to promote their creative business ideas, and take their first bold steps into a promising new future.
Verizon UK Limited. Registered in England and Wales #02776038. Registered address Reading International Business Park, Basingstoke Road, Reading, RG2 6DA.
Unloc Learning Limited. Registered in England and Wales #08578126. Registered address c/o Portsmouth Guildhall, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, PO1 2AB.
Verizon
@ 2024 Verizon UK Limited. All rights reserved.