Boot camp helps student entrepreneurs

STUDENTS from across Yorkshire’s universities have been given an entrepreneurial boost thanks to a special ‘boot camp’.

The four day Beverley-based event, which was funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, gave budding young entrepreneurs an insight into the challenges and opportunities that come with starting up a business.

Delegates attended a range of workshops and seminars from topics including financial planning, tax issues, marketing and successful networking.

Advisers from Business Link Yorkshire, HM Revenue and Customs as well as business leaders were on hand to give professional support.

Previous boot camp delegate and business owner Allison Whitmarsh also visited the event to pass on her experiences.

The Huddersfield University graduate is the founder of baking business ProperMaid, which has grown from supplying farmers’ markets to supermarkets such as Booths.

Talks are ongoing with Asda and Morrisons.

She said: “The entrepreneurs boot camp was a great way for me to get some intensive training and support in the areas that I needed to think about in order to make my business a success like my finances and how I would market the company.

“But actually running my business has taught me so much, I cant wait to go back this year and pass on my experiences to the next round of entrepreneurs.”

The boot camp is part of Yorkshire Forward’s Graduate Enterprise Programme, which is delivered by Huddersfield University to encourage students across the region to start up their own business.

The programme expands on a similar pilot scheme that ran for three years in West Yorkshire and created 173 new businesses.

Alex McWhirter, assistant director of enterprise at Yorkshire Forward, said: “While there is no doubt the jobs market is tough at the moment, it is fantastic to see students from the region taking matters into their own hands and turning their business idea into reality.”