Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:38:00 BST
Young entrepreneurs from Huddersfield and the region will gather this week at York St. John University to turn their up and coming business ideas into reality at Yorkshire’s annual Graduate Entrepreneurship Boot Camp, sponsored by Finance Yorkshire and Blacks Solicitors.
Over 30 entrepreneurial students and graduates from around the Yorkshire region have secured their places on the four day residential event (1 July to 4 July), including:
- University of Huddersfield graduate, Tomas Skerik, with his unique boxing glove design.
- Final year University of Huddersfield student Michelle Whaite, who will build a coaching, speaking and monitoring consulting business called The Leaders-Ship Group.
- Phenomode Fashion: University of Huddersfield graduate Siobhan Thomas will explore options for her fashion label business.
Says Tomas (pictured left), “I mainly want to obtain information about how to establish my business and hope to find out more about marketing, pricing and approaching customers and suppliers. I think the Boot Camp will give me the opportunity to meet with people who own businesses that can offer advice and share their experiences.”
Boot Camp is now in its eighth year and this year is hosted by York St. John University for the first time. The project is a collaboration of eleven higher education partner institutions from the Graduate Entrepreneurship Project, including: University of Bradford, University of Huddersfield, University of Hull, University of Leeds, Leeds College of Art, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds Trinity University, University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, University of York, and York St. John University.
Boot Campers will attend specialist workshops throughout the week that will be led by experts in social enterprise, finance, marketing, law and intellectual property. It will also include an inspiring key note speech from Sheffield Hallam University graduate and successful social entrepreneur, Sophie Maxwell, at a celebration event on Thursday 3 July that will give the entrepreneurs the chance to network with key enterprise figures as well as meet established graduate businesses to hear their experiences.
Sophie Maxwell founded The Really NEET College which is a safe learning environment for young people who are not in Employment, Education or Training, to learn social entrepreneurship. Sophie recently represented the region at Pitch @ Palace, an initiative backed by the Duke of York to support entrepreneurs in the early stages of business.
Robert Sager, Enterprise Officer at York St. John University said, “Boot Camp gives the region’s entrepreneurial students and graduates an inspirational environment in which they can explore and develop their business ideas. They will leave the camp equipped with a wealth of knowledge to start them on their journey into business.”
Boot Camp runs from Tuesday 1 July to Friday 4 July and is open to students and graduates of Yorkshire’s universities and higher education institutions. More information about the Graduate Entrepreneurship programme can be found here: http://graduateentrepreneurship.co.uk
