Next week sees the return of The Apprentice to our screens and with it our annual dose of business dos and business don’ts, topped off with scathing commentary by Lord Sugar. I know from visiting schools and colleges in Swindon that The Apprentice does inspire our local young people to want to give business a go. They see the show as giving people that opportunity.
I have written in this column about my desire to give young people in Swindon the chance to try their hand at business. Not that long ago a group of Swindon College students had a great day’s trading at the Blunsdon Market, getting their first taste of business as a market trader.
I also think it important to encourage our young people to develop their business ideas. From the visits I do, it is clear that ideas are not in short supply and it is the support to translate these into a business plan that is needed. I was recently a ‘Dragon’ at a Dragons’ Den style event at Swindon College to help students do just that.
The event was part of Barclays Money Skills national competition and saw the teams pitch their business ideas to us ‘Dragons’ in a bid to be put through to the next round. Having seen the pitch, we were then able to offer advice and help to the students so that they can go off to develop their pet care, organic cosmetics, up-cycling and maintenance for landlords business plans further. This is the sort of real practical business support that aspirant young entrepreneurs need to help them take that first step.
It is not only young people but also the aspirant entrepreneurs that are maybe coming to business as a second career that also need support. I was delighted to see business advice take its place at the Honda Task Force Jobs Fair on Monday. When people decide to make the move to self-employment it is often a redundancy package that gives them that chance. It is really good that the support in place for the Honda workers includes the mentors and expertise to help those with business dreams to make them a reality.
The event was extremely positive, with many workers and exhibiting employers reporting some useful conversations. There were over 2000 job vacancies on offer at the Fair and these covered all the skills that the workers might have, from administrative roles to engineers and line workers. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the people on the Task Force who made this event possible. It is truly fantastic to see the Town rally round to help those workers affected.
