A £10,000 competition has been launched to help spark a new generation of co-operative entrepreneurs. The Young Co-operators Prize is designed to help alleviate youth unemployment by inspiring students and graduates across the UK to set up their own co-operative businesses as an alternative career pathway. Five teams with new and innovative ideas will each win a £2,000 prize, business support, and mentoring.
The prize is being delivered by national membership body Co-operatives UK and new start up co-op AltGen and offers entrants the chance to secure a package of support and funding that will help them turn their innovative idea for a new co-operative enterprise into reality.
Despite government figures released in August heralding a record fall in youth unemployment, unpaid internships and wage stagnation means the story behind the headline statistics remains somewhat bleaker.
Ten universities have so far signed up as partners for the prize, signalling their commitment to help their students and graduates start co-operating to create their own work. Workshops with students in these institutions will be run over the coming months.
Rhiannon Colvin, Founder of AltGen said:
“The Young Co-operators Prize is about empowering young people to create a more equal and sustainable economy. We don’t have to accept the way work is today. If we stop fighting one another and start working together we can create work that allows us to generate a fair wage, do something we love and have a positive social impact. Co-operatives offer us a practical way of doing this.”
For more information please visit the website for the Young Co-operators Prize: www.y-c-p.co.uk.
