Promoting the entrepreneurial spirit

Start-Up Britain was launched last month to promote the enterprise spirit across the UK. It is an independent collective of UK entrepreneurs and big businesses. Over 60 leading global brands have pledged millions of pounds in support to new entrepreneurs. The website includes business tips, case studies, information on internships and other information. One of the entrepreneurs involved is Workingmums.co.uk’s home business expert Emma Jones. She told Workingmums about its aims.

Start-Up Britain was launched last month to promote the enterprise spirit across the UK. It is an independent collective of UK entrepreneurs and big businesses. Over 60 leading global brands have pledged millions of pounds in support to new entrepreneurs. The website includes business tips, case studies, information on internships and other information. One of the entrepreneurs involved is Workingmums.co.uk’s home business expert Emma Jones. She told Workingmums about its aims.

Workingmums: How did you become involved in StartUp Britain?

Emma Jones: Eight people who were involved in various aspects of enterprise promotion came together to explore if we could do something combined to have national impact. StartUp Britain is the result of that conversation! 
 
WM: How does it work? For instance, do you contribute case studies, etc? Will these be updated regularly?
 
EJ: The campaign aims to encourage more people to start a business and support existing businesses to grow. It will achieve this in three ways:
 
– directing people to existing content and useful resources
– pulling together offers for start-ups and small business in one place
– representing the views and needs of small businesses to government
 
We will continue to measure how the campaign is performing through site visitors, offers activated and policies implemented. 
 
WM: What kind of enterprise support do you offer? Is it all online?
 
EJ: The support is more in the form of pointing to existing support on offer that we don’t want to replicate. One of the other key objectives of the campaign was to shine a national media spotlight on enterprise and, in so doing, encourage people to visit the campaign site where they will see just how much support is available in the form of websites, organisations, events and offers. The campaign will also be present and profiled at a number of offline events throughout the year. 
 
WM: How is the work divided between all the entrepreneurs taking part? 
 
EJ: I have to say I wondered how it would work when you put eight independent-minded business owners together, but we have distinct roles and it’s working really well! One of the highlights has been getting to know fellow founders and the contribution they make to enterprise; Duncan Cheatle who inspires businesses to grow through his work at The Supper Club and Rajeeb Dey who is encouraging the next generation to go self-employed via his company, Enternships.
 
The work is divided into corporate liaison, campaigning and website development and we are all very clear on who is doing what. It’s a strong team and we are also in contact with Start Up America to share good practice with them. 
 
WM: How much time commitment is required?
 
EJ: It’s been pretty substantial! It may have been long hours but every member of the team is committed to the aims and objectives of the campaign. We are driven by the fact that if we don’t get this campaign up and running and encourage more people into self-employment, this nation will miss a major opportunity. This is what compels you to keep going.  
 
WM: Will you be working with schools [since it was launched the same day as the Govt initiatives for young people]?
 
EJ: We would like to work with anyone who is up for encouraging and supporting enterprise! Indeed, one of the founders, Oli Barrett, is a key figure behind Tenner (now Tenner Tycoon) that has given £10 to 24,000 school children and encourages them to make a profit and make a difference. Over the past week, as we’ve responded to all the great comments coming in via the campaign site, Oli has been staying in touch in between meeting the students involved in Tenner. It’s very important that enterprise starts at a young age and StartUp Britain is all for that! 
 
WM: Are there any plans to target particular audiences, eg working mums?
 
EJ: We want the StartUp Britain message to reach everyone. I’ve never seen such a time when so many people - male/female, young/old – want to start a business. This campaign is being designed to reach the 45% of people in the UK who are dreaming about starting a business, but wondering where to start. We want to help every one of you. 
 
WM: How do you plan to develop it?
 
EJ: There’s a lot of development underway. A second version of the site will be launched so people can decide on the best links to content and most valuable offers. We are working with partners on new and exclusive offers and we’re in discussions with a whole host of organisations about promotion opportunities and events to attend. There will be regular announcements and the site will offer the most up-to-date news so please do visit www.startupbritain.org or follow us on twitter @startupbritain.

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