Young people and enterprise

We know that believing in yourself is something which needs to be encouraged early on in life. And young people in our region need to believe they could be their own boss at some point in the future.

We’re working to develop a spirit of enterprise right across the region, starting with schoolchildren and moving all the way through to young people and graduates. We work with a wide range of partners to stimulate the aspirations of our region’s young people, and to embed enterprise across all levels of education.

The Young People’s Enterprise Forum (YPEF)

One of our key partners in this area is the YPEF, set up by Yorkshire Forward to help provide the region with a source of enterprising young people for years to come. YPEF is the strategic, impartial facilitator for enterprise education in Yorkshire & Humber, bringing together key stakeholders from across all sectors to deliver a co-ordinated approach to youth enterprise development. YPEF leads on the Embedding Enterprise Programme and works with the National Make Your Mark Campaign to promote Enterprise Week across the region each year.

Wildfire

YPEF is involved in a range of projects and initiatives which encourage and develop the enterprise skills and abilities of young people. One of these is Wildfire, which gives budding entrepreneurs the chance to explore their business ideas and to access expert online mentoring support from successful business people.

Rotherham Ready

Rotherham Ready is a Yorkshire Forward established initiative which is widely recognised as best practice in the field of enterprise education. Key features of the initiative include a ladder of enterprise learning for all young people in Rotherham schools (including primary); trained enterprise champions within every Rotherham school and college; and quality assurance via the University of Warwick’s Excellence in Enterprise Education Award.

Northern Enterprise Education Programme

Yorkshire Forward has partnered with One North East and the North West Regional Development Agency to deliver the Northern Enterprise Education Programme (NEEP) as part of a Northern Way initiative. NEEP has focused on the two priority areas of Key Stage 3 and further education, and these have been led by YPEF and the Association of Colleges Yorkshire and Humber respectively. 
 

Graduate Entrepreneurship Programme 

In higher education, Yorkshire Forward supports the Yorkshire & Humber Graduate Entrepreneurship Programme which is being delivered by Yorkshire Universities. The programme brings together the region’s 14 higher education institutions to develop awareness and understanding of enterprise amongst students, and builds students’ confidence and motivation to be better prepared for the world of business start-up. Developing improved working links with the further education sector is also an important element of the programme. (Please also see our Enterprise Within Universities page).

Graduate Entrepreneurship Project

The Graduate Entrepreneurship Project funds activities within eleven Higher Education Institutions from across Yorkshire focussed on enterprise and entrepreneurship. Its support complements existing activities within each of the institutions, enabling them to provide a greater range and depth of support to students and graduates interested in starting their own businesses. These include:

• Boot Camp - An introduction to starting your own business, Entrepreneur Boot Camp is an interactive, four day residential course. It provides graduates with a wealth of crucial commercial skills and allows them to develop support from specialists in marketing, finance and other key aspects of business.

• Funding - Potential business founders may apply for a proof of concept fund from their university. These are accompanied by extensive support and guidance from the higher education institution to ensure that the concept is explored to its fullest potential.

• Mentoring and advice - There is a full range of support available to graduate enterpreneurs across the region. Some Higher Education Institutions provide full time business advisors, while all receive regular visits from subject specific advisors.

• Workshops - These are offered both at individual institutions and at a regional level, and are intended to enhance commercial skills as an aid to emloyability as well as business start up.

• University Showcase - A chance for graduate enterpreneurs to exhibit along with other new businesses in the region at Venturefest Yorkshire.

The Graduate Enterprise Programme successfully came to a close in October 2010. More information about the project outcomes and best practice can be found at www.graduateentrepreneurship.co.uk.

Contact

If you’d like to find out more about these issues, speak to a member of the Yorkshire Forward Enterprise Development team:
Vanessa Sammut
Project & Marketing Assistant   
(Vanessa.sammut@yorkshire-forward.com)   
0113 394 9758       
If the contact you're looking for isn’t listed here, please visit our main contact page.