With new firms responsible for the creation of employment, the generation of wealth, the development of innovation, the disruption of markets and support for local communities, entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as one of the key forces behind boosting economic prosperity around the world.
As we emerge from the pandemic, those entrepreneurs with amazing ideas for new businesses will be the ones who will generate the new jobs during the post-Covid recovery, reimagine our town centres and drive forward innovation in a range of sectors.
In other words, the UK will need more home-grown, innovative firms to regenerate the economy especially within the more deprived parts of the nation where supporting the development of these entrepreneurial ventures will contribute significantly to closing the prosperity with the more prosperous regions.
To make a contribution to this agenda, I am currently working with colleagues at the University of South Wales and the Alacrity Foundation on a new programme, based in Rhondda Cynon Taff, that is being supported by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.
The Ideas to Innovation project is piloting a new programme that is being developed as a catalyst for creating innovative new businesses across South East Wales and elsewhere in the UK. Its aim is to support up to 20 new innovation-led entrepreneurs to create new products, services and processes that have the potential for further commercialisation and will create jobs and prosperity in the local community.
This will be achieved by bringing together a number of key elements to support the creation of a viable entrepreneurial ecosystem by building on the work of USW’s enterprise activities and drawing on the principles of the successful Alacrity Foundation entrepreneurship course which combines graduate talent with world-class mentors to create the next generation of technology companies.
As the aim is to accelerate the development of an entrepreneurial idea to a commercial stage where other funding can be attracted to develop the business further, it will also adopt the ‘high support, high challenge’ approach adopted by the innovation charity Nesta, This will stretch and challenge entrepreneurs but also give them valuable, bespoke, advice and capacity building support such as access to marketing and communications, business planning, and financing.
To achieve this - and given the time-specific nature of the funding - we needed to ensure this was the best support package available to new businesses in Wales. Drawing on world class exemplars in enterprise policy, participants will receive a maximum of £15,000 grant to develop their business, undertake training and support through the Alacrity Foundation, have access to expert mentors in their field and be given a space within a dedicated incubator.
Unlike many other programmes, we have ensured that the grant funding is spent on the development of the business rather than providing a wage to the entrepreneur and will therefore fund activities at the very early stage of turning ideas into a commercial or socially valuable proposition.
In that respect, this is all about testing the proposition properly and this “stage-gate” approach draws upon international best practice in committing small amounts of funding in the early stages of a business when outcomes are uncertain rather than risking large funds on untested.
In doing so, it can help public and private funders decide who to back and can enable entrepreneurs to develop proposals without having to invest their own limited funds thus de-risking their involvement. Indeed, all of the firms will have the opportunity to pitch to a panel of investors at the end of the programme.
This is an important project for various reasons, not least because the development of entrepreneurship in some of poorest communities needs to be boosted. In fact, Rhondda Cynon Taff is one of the most deprived counties in the UK and the project’s focus on innovation and entrepreneurship will help to create new opportunities for economic renewal in a disadvantaged area.
With the majority of commercial incubators largely based in Cardiff and Newport within South East Wales, the programme will hopefully act as a magnet to attract entrepreneurial individuals back to the Valleys and develop similar support elsewhere within the Cardiff Capital Region.
By ensuring participants develop the competencies necessary to develop and manage a successful innovative business, it will address a key issue in the labour market namely that only 45% of adults in Wales believe that they have the skills, knowledge and experience to start a business, the lowest of any nation in the UK.
It will also directly address one of the biggest barriers to individuals taking the step into self-employment or entrepreneurship namely access to finance and relevant support. This is important as only 29% of people in Wales believe there are good opportunities to start a business in the next six months as opposed 39% for the UK.
Therefore, through a new approach that combines seed funding with direct support including training, business support, access to premises and mentoring, this programme will have generated a group of new businesses that will have created a viable innovation that has market potential, demonstrates a return on investment and can be commercialised as soon as possible after project completion.
The application process is still open until the end of the month for anyone who has a great idea that they want to develop, and I would urge anyone with an interest in developing their entrepreneurial potential to go to the website.
It’s going to be an amazing programme with, I am sure, some incredibly talented individuals developing their innovative ideas over the next six months.
