Half a million to boost youth enterprise

A nude calendar, a Santa fun run and a sponsored slim are some of the bright ideas to raise more than 500,000 in the first national enterprise challenge for The Prince's Trust.

The Million Makers challenge has seen employees from 50 companies including The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), Accenture, Axa and Oracle competing against each other to raise the most money for the youth charity. Teams run their own mini enterprises to raise the cash, increasing their leadership, negotiation and team-working skills.

The cash will help thousands of young people into business on The Prince's Trust Business Programme.

The winning team from RBS was crowned by BBC sports presenter Chris Hollins at a ceremony last night, having turned an initial investment of 3,000 into a staggering 46,000.

The team came up with an innovative enterprise to raise the cash, selling advertising space in a business directory to local companies, which was printed and distributed across the South East.

Employees from South West Communications designed a nude calendar, which saw Exeter Chiefs rugby hunks stripping off for the national competition. The team raised 31,000 in total.

Companies across the UK are still determined to support young entrepreneurs, despite Britain's economic woes, said Martina Milburn, Chief Executive, The Prince's Trust.
Million Makers is proven to improve teams' confidence, communication and team-working skills, which is more important than ever as companies are forced to cut training budgets during the recession.

Million Makers 2009 will be launched in June and promises to be bigger and better than ever. It will see 100 teams from all over the UK competing to raise the most money for the youth charity. Sections of the Million Makers challenge can be attached to a company's CPD requirements.

Million Makers is the largest employee fundraising initiative in the history of The Trust. The Business Programme has helped more than 70,000 young people since 1983 and needs 1million every month to continue its vital work.