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Enterprise Island
Summary
Yorkshire Forward has worked with Bradford Council on a programme which should generate up to 400 new start-up businesses every year.
In 2006, Bradford Metropolitan Council won £21.4m of Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) funding from Communities and Local Government. Bradford was the only council in Yorkshire & Humber to receive this funding, and one of only 15 chosen from a list of 88 applicants nationwide.
LEGI is designed to release the productivity and economic potential of the UK’s most deprived local areas and their inhabitants through enterprise and investment, thereby boosting local incomes and employment opportunities, and building sustainable communities.
Bradford Council decided to invest its LEGI funding in bringing the Enterprise Island Challenge back to Bradford to search for budding entrepreneurs. (Enterprise Island is a company created 18 years ago by Iain Scott, and was one of the very first in the UK to pioneer work in the enterprise and regeneration field.)
An earlier visit to Bradford by Enterprise Island saw more than 140 budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of business experts, with 14 going on to begin start-ups. For the second visit, Bradford was looking to find a further 10 entrepreneurs with the ideas, vision and determination to start a business. Those chosen from the auditions receive expert advice and mentoring to help their ideas become reality.
The LEGI funding will help to generate up to 400 new businesses per year in Bradford, promoting a vibrant mixed economy for the city.
What is Yorkshire Forward’s connection with this initiative?
Recipients of LEGI funding are encouraged by Communities and Local Government to work closely with their regional development agency (in this case, Yorkshire Forward) to develop studied spending proposals which focus on projects which will bring lasting change to their areas.
