This afternoon I attended an event that sees the launch of a new platfrom to support and mentor business start-ups from idea to conception, the social enterprise is called Entrepreneurial Spark (E-Spark)
This is good news and I believe that this is a great opportunity for our area, as it offers both free support and mentoring from top industry professionals and by getting behind initiatives such as this we can help secure the future prosperity of our local economy and create more jobs locally. Three of the businesses that they have been mentoring have appeared on the Dragons Den in the last six week and all secured investment from the dragons. The event was regarding establishing a Leeds area business accelerator. This will be launched in the summer. Entrepreneurial Spark is the worlds largest free business accelerator that supports start-ups and entrepreneurs from all industry sectors. A high porportion of start-ups fail with in their first three years, but Espark have an 83.4% success rate which is twice the national average. It is going to be the second one to be launched in England. It is supported by Natwest - although open to anyone.
They offer 18 months support that includes; office spare with internet access, workshops training and advice, and full mentoring from idea to conception from industry top professionals. For further details their website is; www.entrepreneurial-spark.com