July 2009 E-bulletin

The past few months has seen Sheffield celebrate enterprise, with people of all ages, across the city, engaging with the programme and the activities taking place.

 

The BiG Challenge competition run in schools and colleges across Sheffield has resulted in over £17k being raised by students running their own business. Nearly 300 teams entered the competition, double the number compared to last year, and excitement was visible on the night of the awards held in Cutlers Hall. This year a team of seven students known as ‘9 Peas in a Pod’ from Fir Vale School were awarded the top prize - the BiG trip to Paris sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

 

Celebrity entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den star Levi Roots who handed out the prizes at the event spoke about how inspired he was by our city’s young entrepreneurs.

 

At a neighbourhood level across Sheffield, the success of the programme has led to the Neighbourhood Enterprise Coaches resource being doubled through the provision of ERDF funding. The service provided at this local level is undoubtedly having a positive impact on the city, as the annual Be Your Own Boss Showcase & Market demonstrated. The event on Saturday 18^th July saw 35 businesses trading in the city centre on Fargate. All of the businesses had been supported by BiG: Make it Your Business to start up. Sheffield City Council Leader, Councillor Paul Scriven opened the event and met our businesses to hear about their experiences and the difference the support of the programme has made.

 

We have also just seen the milestone of 300^th business supported by BiG set up in our city, and we are linking in well with Sheffield City Council’s First Point for Business service. This walk in service provides a single point of contact for any business enquiries and already we have seen BiG businesses established from people walking in to this service with nothing more than a desire to start their own business.

 

Your continued support of this programme is crucial to its success stories and achievements and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your involvement so far, and look forward to another busy three months across the programme.