21 August 2008
5 Northwest Enterprise Champions on the way
The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) can reveal that
five Universities in the region will receive funding to establish
Enterprise Champions, helping graduates to be more enterprising and
potentially become successful entrepreneurs.
The NWDA has approved £930,000 towards the project that will
help increase the number of students/graduates developing an idea
into a business opportunity. The Enterprise Champion will offer
encouragement, guidance and practical support to students and
graduates who show entrepreneurial ideas and commitment, providing
them with the opportunity to explore the possibility of turning
these ideas into real profit making enterprises.
The Northwest will initially have 5 Enterprise Champions
building on the key lessons learnt from the existing Enterprise
Champion at Liverpool John Moores University who will provide a key
role in debriefing additional faculties and institutions.
The Agency is also investigating opportunities to increase the
number of universities that could be involved in the future.
This new funding from the NWDA will extend this best practice
model by establishing 5 permanent champions, to cover the
geographic range of the region’s universities, including; The
University of Liverpool, University of Salford, University of
Cumbria, Manchester Metropolitan University and the ongoing
development of the project at Liverpool John Moores
University.
Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the NWDA said: “We have an
enterprise gap in the Northwest, we need more business start ups to
help reach the national average and help boost our GVA. This
exciting project will support fresh ideas at an early stage and
encourage our graduates to take their entrepreneurial plans forward
to profit making businesses.”
The Enterprise Champions will help support and promote graduate
start ups and their role will aim to influence policy makers in
Northwest universities to establish supportive frameworks and
environments within which enterprise and entrepreneurship can
flourish; encourage an enterprise culture by raising awareness,
motivation and insight into entrepreneurial opportunities and
motivate students toward considering entrepreneurship as a career
or life option.
The project is delivered nationally by the National Council for
Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) who have the national lead for
this type of activity, with the financial support from the NWDA to
roll this out in the region.
ENDS
The National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) is the
UK’s national body focusing on enhancing the entrepreneurial
capacity of the Higher Education sector. We do this by:
supporting long-term cultural change on our universities; shaping
the institutional environment to be more conducive to enterprise
and entrepreneurship; increasing the level of graduate
entrepreneurial activity; and informing national policy and
practice.
For further press information visit www.ncge.com or contact Simon Butt,
Director of Communications, on 07717 768099, or by email: simon.butt@ncge.org.uk