QuasiPreneur.com

College offers start-up aid for entrepreneurs

Published Date: 15 July 2008
By Staff / yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk

A SUBSIDISED business start-up incubator centre based at Park Lane College Leeds is calling for local entrepreneurial talent to get in touch. Following a successful year, some of the fledgling businesses incubated at the centre – dubbed The Unit – are now ‘flying the nest’ to establish themselves independently in the business world.

As a result, a number of its office pods and virtual support programmes will becomeavailable over the next few months for people who can successfully pitch their ideas for a start-up to a judging panel.

The Unit was one of the first business incubator centres to be opened in a Further Education College when it opened in November 2006.

It consists of around 20 office pods for new business start-ups from the local community.

The business pods in The Unit have thus far been allocated to a variety of new business hopefuls, from film-makers to recruitment firms.

Benefits

Originally funded by the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund, The Unit also offers other benefits including free membership to the Leeds Chamber of Commerce (for one year), free one-to-one consultations and a programme of business seminars delivered by visiting speakers.

‘Virtual’ clients receive the same benefits, but without an office pod.

One business at The Unit, which is approaching the end of its first year and is now looking for a move to new premises, is online marketing and web development company Red Koala.

Mike Osolinski, creative director at Red Koala, said: “Whilst this is a very exciting time for the company, we will also be extremely sad to leave this vibrant and inspirational environment of entrepreneurs.

“We knew when we won our place here that it would help our business significantly but we could never have imagined how dramatically the support, training and networking opportunities that we have received, would propel us forward.

“One thing we have learned, though, is that in business there is always something new to learn and different ways to look at things.

Leaving

“Even though we will soon be leaving, we look forward to remaining virtual members of The Unit and continuing to contribute to the community that has given us so much.”

l The Unit will be inviting pitches from new businesses looking to win a pod or virtual contract in the centre on Thursday, July 31. Any business-ready enterprises ready to launch their ideas should contact Jennie or Hannah on (0113) 216 2250/2252 as soon as possible.