Member Article

Funding boost for young Cumbrian entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship, self-employment and enterprise education for young people in Cumbria have all been given a major boost after the county’s Enterprise Education Group beat off national competition to secure nearly £50,000 of funding.

A joint bid through the Countywide Enterprise Education group, co-written by Cumbria County Council and submitted on behalf of the group by Furness Enterprise Partnership, has been awarded a £49,770 RBS Inspiring Youth Enterprise Grant. Last month the grant submissions were opened up to an online public vote and the Cumbria bid secured the most votes in the ‘large grant’ category.

Through the ‘Inspiring a New Generation of Entrepreneurs’ project, RBS Inspiring Enterprise funding will enable five events to take place across Cumbria during 2014/15, organised and run with young local entrepreneurs and partners focusing on entrepreneurship/self-employment as a career option with 1,000 students aged 14-24.

Events will include inspirational speakers, workshops developing business ideas, information on funding, support and advice available.

A ‘start your own business’ toolkit will also be provided at the events offering tips for setting up in business featuring a student friendly business plan template, useful contacts, websites and publications and video case studies showcasing a diverse range of young Cumbrian entrepreneurs to inspire young people to consider starting a business.

A county-wide student enterprise competition to plan/design innovative products/services with seed funding and mentorship for the winners will be launched with the funding too.

Julia Winder, Enterprise Education Officer for Cumbria County Council who chairs the Countywide Enterprise Education Group said: “Funding from RBS Inspiring Youth Enterprise will not only enable us to work in partnership to address a number of gaps collaboratively identified through the Countywide Enterprise Education group in Cumbria, it will also enable us to raise the profile of self-employment/entrepreneurship as a viable career option with young people across a variety of ages.

“It will provide students with the opportunity to meet with and learn from inspirational young local entrepreneurs, attend informative and engaging enterprise events and have access to the vital information they need to better understand what funding, support and advice is available for them to start-up in business.”

Chris McAree, Head teacher at Caldew School said: “We are very pleased that the funding secured will allow young people from schools across Cumbria to access the knowledge and experience of successful, inspirational role models and develop students’ entrepreneurial skills by participating in events and competitions.”

Val Robinson, Funding and New Start Manager at Furness Enterprise said: “It’s a great opportunity to bring together and work with so many partners across Cumbria, delivering a consistent and sustainable programme of support for students.”

Dr Michele Lawty-Jones, Enterprise and Business Relations Manager, at the University of Cumbria, said: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with partners in delivering a range of inspirational and valuable enterprise activities to our students. This type of activity has a positive impact by developing employability and entrepreneurial skills that are of benefit whichever career path the individual might choose.”

Suzanne Caldwell, Head of Communications and Business Services at Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, said: “As a Chamber, we strongly support the importance of ensuring young people in Cumbria are given every opportunity to explore the benefits of self-employment and entrepreneurship.

“The funding secured will ensure that we send out positive and inspiring messages to those interested in becoming our future entrepreneurs and it’s great to see that partnership working has again reaped rewards for the county and in particular our young people.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .