The City of London Corporation is an organisation providing local government services to the “Square Mile” business district around St Paul’s. It’s primary role is to support and enhance the business City in becoming a world-leading business hub. The area of “Square Mile” is surrounded with some of the country’s most deprived boroughs where unemployment remains high. The City of London Corporation is committed to working with its neighbors to support the regeneration of local communities.
The City of London corporation has recently launched a program to help unemployed individuals turn their ideas into successful businesses. The program was created to tackle unemployment in the “Square Mile” region of London. The new initiative Enterprise Support for startups provides an opportunity for people to assess if their business ideas are viable and sustainable. It also gives a great chance to gauge if self employment is a good fit, by having one-to-one business counseling and mentoring with City based business experts.
The Corporation has invested £80,000 into the Enterprise Support for Start-ups program with a view to assist 90 people, and it hopes that 50% will go on to be successful entrepreneurs. Funding for this project was raised jointly by the City of London Corporation and the European Social Fund, and led by East London Small Business Centre, working in partnership with local enterprise agencies HBV Enterprise and Centa Business Centre and the youth charity, The Prince’s Trust.
The Enterprise Support program is to run a series of workshops for the group of enterprising people selected for the course. The workshops will cover many topics relating to launching a business, including researching a target market, writing business plans, launching an idea, and advice on legal and financial issues such as sole-trading and self-assessment tax returns.
As a vital part of the programme the City of London Corporation is looking to match new enterprises with a business or personal mentor from a leading City firm. This is a fantastic opportunity for City business to make a difference to their local communities and increase prosperity on the City fringes.
Organisations and individuals interested in providing volunteer mentors can find out more information by contacting Alessia Bolis at ELSBC, and see their website. The Startup Magazine highly supports this initiative from the City of London corporation and we encourage you to get involved!
The criteria for becoming an Enterprise Support for Start-ups mentor:
- Work in any business sector based within the “Square Mile” of the City.
- Be committed to offering six hours of one-to-one mentoring to a person who is out of work and looking to establish their own business.
- Sessions take place in person. Sessions can be arranged through the East London Small Business Centre’s offices or take place at the mentor’s premises.
- Mentors will also asked for their permission to be named in promotional and marketing activity.
Individuals looking to start up a business and not currently in work can find out more about the scheme on the economic regeneration website.
If you have any questions or sugestions for the Enterprise Support program please leave your comments below.
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