Innovative Programme Boosts New Business Start-ups
In April a group of budding graduate entrepreneurs came along to the Tremough campus in Penryn to find out more about starting their own business. The Graduate Start-up Programme, run by Unlocking Cornish Potential (UCP), receives ESF (European Social Fund) Convergence investment and supports graduate entrepreneurs through business mentoring, training and a financial subsidy.
The programme has evolved from the highly successful UCP model of placing graduates with Cornish companies to help them to develop their business. Under Objective One funding the project worked with 235 graduates and revealed a lot of enterprising and talented graduate entrepreneurs. The support on offer from UCP has developed to meet the needs of those eager to start their own business in Cornwall, providing them with a Business Development Manager, peer networking, increased expert mentor support and tailored training. All of this will give them a head start in their journeys to becoming the Cornish business leaders of the future.
All the graduates were given the opportunity to talk one-to-one with advisors and get help from organisations including Business Link, Oxford Innovation, Outset Cornwall and Sirolli. The types of high growth businesses soon to be springing up around Cornwall include innovative renewable energy companies, expert marketing agencies, and innovative e-commerce websites which are making the most out of the digital economy. Allyson Glover, Head of Graduate Placements, said; "It's inspiring to see so many graduates with great ideas who are passionate about starting their own business in Cornwall. There was a real buzz around the event and so many like-minded people got to share ideas and talk about opportunities in the future. I'm really excited about seeing these graduates develop over the next year. The type of people and businesses we met over the three days are exactly why the Cornwall Institute of Enterprise is so important."
The Cornwall Institute of Enterprise is a CUC initiative which will a world-class centre for business and entrepreneurship, providing courses, practical research and a hub for business start-ups.
Helen Davies, who has recently started a eco-friendly clothing brand EKOSense, has this to say about the experience, "It was great to be able to reflect on my business, it's so easy to get caught up in the day to day running of things that time out like this is really important. They were a fantastic three days - I was blown away."
Over the course of the workshops graduates took part in exercises and lectures designed to boost their skills, such as managing finance, sales and marketing, they also met other support agencies that offer help to start-ups in Cornwall. James Mansfield, who is starting a business in the renewable energy sector, gained a lot from his experience, saying, "the facilitators who worked with us over the three days were really knowledgeable and the networking opportunities were great." The aim of the training and assessment centre was to give help and advice to the business owners of the future and select 24 graduates to receive targeted support through the UCP programme.
James Williams, who has developed a new product called Keebunga, is really pleased to be offered support through the programme, he said "The whole thing was really efficient, I've tried to get support to start my business from other places before and it's been a bit difficult but this format really worked."
The graduates who have been invited to join the UCP programme will be starting in May and June this year and will get 12 months of support. Unlocking Cornish Potential is the Combined Universities in Cornwall's graduate placement scheme and is managed by Cornwall College and funded by the European Social Fund through Convergence.