Business Breaks for Young People
Business Breaks for Young People has been announced as regional winner of the Enterprising Britain 2007 Awards for the East Midlands.
The project has been recognised for its success in using enterprise to inspire young people from deprived areas of Nottingham.Established in 2004, Business Breaks for Young People is an innovative community based enterprise programme run by Nottinghamshire Business Venture, and supported by the Greater Nottingham Partnership. The programme works primarily with young people from disadvantaged areas of Nottingham who are either at risk of exclusion or who have been excluded from mainstream education. The programme aims to capture their imagination, and then encourage and support them to set-up their own business.
Each young person attends the Business Breaks programme for an 11-month period, which equips him or her with the skills, experience and support they need to set up their own business. Each programme provides mentoring support, one-to-one coaching and practical training across a variety of subjects including marketing, financial planning, personal presentation and communication strategies.
Over the last three years the programme has given 138 young people the opportunity to set up a business of their choice and at least 22 of the start-up businesses set up have continued to run long after the young people involved have completed the programme. The businesses they set up are live and the students earn real money, which for many of them is the first time they have generated income by themselves. As the businesses are live, it gives the young people involved employment opportunities immediately upon leaving the programme.
At the end of the project they are still supported by Business Breaks, for at least a further six months. All the young people who participate in the programme are also encouraged to access the support of other business support agencies and youth projects, which they are introduced throughout the year.
One business that began life at the programme is Nottingham Football Academy, set up by Leighton Pollard who took part in the first Business Breaks project in 2004. The academy, which is still going strong, teaches football to young local children during school holidays. Commenting on Business Breaks Leighton Pollard said:
‘‘Business Breaks has put me back on the right path. It gave me the push and the encouragement to be where I am now.”
As well as providing practical business skills, the programme raises the aspirations and self-esteem of the young people involved. At the end of the programme participants are more likely to remain in school and complete their education. This benefits the school and the local community, whether or not the individual student establishes a business.
Commenting on the positive impact of Business Breaks, Graham Roberts, Acting Head teacher at The Henry Mellish School and Sports College, said:
“The young people they have worked with have been some of our more disengaged students, who find accessing mainstream lessons difficult at times. However, the students have been very keen to participate in this project and this has had a knock on to their attitude and commitment within other areas of school. We are very keen that the partnership continues in future years. I thoroughly recommend the project to anyone.”