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M&G plc expands 10x Challenge to six European countries

With the support of M&G plc, Junior Achievement are enriching and scaling a successful national enterprise competition created by Young Enterprise (YE) UK across several markets in Europe: France, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Spain and Italy as well as the UK. The 10x Challenge programme will provide social and sustainable benefits to young people, their teachers and their communities, while fostering skills such as entrepreneurship, financial capability, collaboration and digital interaction.

The programme has been running in the UK for eight years under the name ‘Tenner Challenge’. During this time, over 200,000 young people have developed the critical skills to learn to earn and manage their money.  Over four weeks, small teams of young people aged 11 to 16 years old start and run a mini enterprise, beginning with just £10.  Products and services are researched, developed and traded over the four-week period culminating in teams submitting entries for a range of awards, including ‘Best for Sustainability’ and ‘Most Inspiring Team or Individual’.  Whilst profit is an overall objective of the programme the focus is on the skills-based learning that the young people are gaining in a real-life context.

Having been fortunate enough to see the breadth of skills that young people develop through this experience I am extremely grateful to M&G plc for enabling this important programme to extend to a further six countries in Europe.  We are proud to have supported the development of crucial skills and mindset of so many young people through Tenner Challenge within the UK and extremely pleased to see the programme extended under its brand new 10X Challenge name ~ Sharon Davies, CEO Young Enterprise

This exciting three-year partnership will create a scalable, sector leading programme that will equip more than 100,000 secondary school students (aged 11-16) across the UK and Europe with the enterprise and financial capability skills needed to achieve success in today’s global economy. Furthermore, it will empower more teachers to be confident about teaching financial capability, and increase the accessibility of teaching about long-term savings and investment within secondary schools. A key component of JA programmes is local business engagement and the 10X Challenge will include a mix of digital and face-to-face volunteering, which will reflect the different cultural context across European schools. 

In these turbulent times, young people across Europe need to future proof their careers by developing transferable skills such as problem solving and team work, alongside core skills like financial and digital literacy, to have the confidence and agility to be resilient, adapt and thrive in the job market ~ Salvatore Nigro, CEO JA Europe 

At M&G plc, we are committed to supporting our local communities and equipping people with the skills, tools and opportunities to be financially secure.  The TenX Challenge provides a valuable foundation for young people to develop their confidence, resilience and a wide range of skills which will help underpin success in future education and employment pathways ~ Jane Rawnsley, Group Head of Corporate Responsibility

About JA Europe

JA Europe is the largest non-profit in Europe dedicated to preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship. JA Europe is a member of JA Worldwide, which for 100 years has delivered hands on, experiential learning in entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy. JA creates pathways for employability, job creation and financial success.

Last school year, the JA network in Europe reached more than 4 million young people across 40 countries with the support of 140,000 business volunteers and 130,000 teachers/educators. 

About Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise is non-profit charity that specialises in enterprise education and financial education based in the UK. YE works directly with young people, teachers, volunteers and influencers to build a successful and sustainable future for all young people. In 2018 / 19 the Young Enterprise partnership of teachers, volunteers, supporters and staff engaged over 482,000 young people, helping them to develop their business, financial and entrepreneurial capabilities.

About M&G plc

M&G plc is an international savings and investments business, managing money for both individual savers and institutional investors in 28 markets. As at 30 June 2020, we had £339 billion of assets under management and administration, around 5 million retail customers and more than 800 institutional clients.

With a heritage dating back more than 170 years, M&G plc has a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. We serve our savings and insurance customers under the Prudential brand in the UK and Europe and for asset management in South Africa, and under the M&G Investments brand for asset management clients globally.