news
How young people are inspiring each other to create social change
How young people are inspiring each other to create social change
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
How young people are inspiring each other to create social change
Written by
UnLtd employee
UnLtd position
Many social entrepreneurs are driven by their desire to act to make the world better, after spotting a problem in their own life. thestudentnucleus.com is a great example of this – created as a result of student Martin Hedley’s wish to recycle his university text books at the end of each year. '“I was inspired to start  thestudentnucleus.com after I completed my first year at university. I had around £200 worth of textbooks that I didn’t need any more and wanted to sell them onto next year's students.†Martin quickly discovered he wasn’t the only student with this problem. As a business studies student, he was inspired to explore the idea further. Soon after, thestudentnucleus.com was born. It is now up and running as a free social platform that aims to make the life of university students as simple as possible. It not only allows students to buy and sell their used textbooks, but also helps them to find all the scholarships & funding available at their university and brings together students with different skill sets, so they can work on projects or create new ventures together. Martin now runs the company along with a growing team of six, who are celebrating their recent accolade of ‘Best Social Enterprise’ at The Grad Factor and are looking forward to launching their brand new website shortly. Despite such early successes, Martin reminds us that creating a business while also studying full time is not for the faint hearted ""I am very busy and have to manage my time very well"". However, he has no regrets ""Taking on any idea and making it a reality, no matter how big or small, is always hard work. I have made many mistakes along the way and will continue to do so, but the mind-set I have is as long as you are learning, you are improving."" Martin strongly believes that young people are uniquely positioned to start up similar enterprises. ""Your age and potential lack of experience may seem like big disadvantages but I would say they are actually huge pluses. Your energy, enthusiasm and desire to make a difference at such a young age draw people towards you who are willing to help.†This is an ethos strongly supported by UnLtd, so we awarded Martin with a Spark Award to explore this idea further. As a result, Martin and his team now also run workshops across universities to encourage other students to get involved or create their own social ventures. His advice to young people therefore, is “simply give it a go. If I hadn’t taken the decision to at least take the idea further, overcoming all the doubts and fear of failure I had, then I wouldn’t have learnt all the things I have and met so many influential people who have all helped me.†This mind-set made him a natural fit to join our Do It For Real Volunteer programme Do It For Real volunteer programme – which gets previous Award winners to work with and guide potential young social entrepreneurs, by giving out £500 awards of cash and support. “I was delighted to be asked to become a Do It For Real Volunteer, because the work UnLtd does is fantastic and I wanted to give something back to other young social entrepreneurs.†DIFR programme volunteers not only receive training and access to an online learning platform, but are also invited to attend a unique residential training weekend. Like fellow volunteer Lucy Cooke , Martin was motivated by the other attendees: ""It was fantastic to meet all the other volunteers. I came away from (The Volunteers Residential) weekend so energised and motivated because there were so many young, inspirational and passionate people there to share ideas with.â€' thestudentnucleus.com has also benefited from these fellow DIFR volunteer’s wealth of experience, “Numerous people have been extremely helpful since, in offering their advice and skills to us, and helping us to grow and learnâ€. It was this collective desire to collaborate and foster new talent that Martin found especially inspiring about the programme and is the reason he can’t wait to find the lucky recipient of his £500 Try It Award. ""To be able to give someone the little boost they need at the start of their journey is such a rewarding opportunity. I would highly recommend that other people become DIFR volunteers because it is a fantastic way to give back to other young people just starting out on their adventure.""
If you are interesting in inspiring other young social entrepreneurs like Martin, then you can find out all about our DIFR volunteering programme on our dedicated page. Or, better still, if you want to tackle a social issue of your own, you can track down Martin and thestudentnucleus.com team at one of their upcoming workshops at Cumbria and Coventry University, where they’ll be searching for their lucky £500 Try It Award winner. Find out more http://thestudentnucleus.com/ or follow @studentnucleus. Applications for DIFR Volunteers close on 20th April.Apply to Become a Do It For Real Volunteer