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Dr Kelly Smith
ENTERPRISING graduates will provide a boost to Yorkshire’s economy, thanks to a European-funded scheme led by the University of Huddersfield.
The Graduate Entrepreneurship Project, originally conceived three years ago, was given a new lease of life with a new phase of funding of £1.3 million from the European Regional Development Fund, via the agency Yorkshire Forward.
Under the scheme people with bright business ideas who graduated from one of Yorkshire’s 11 universities are able to apply for practical help and funding.
The first start-up businesses to be aided by the scheme will be welcomed in the coming months and the target is to ensure that 50 new enterprises are launched and a further 20 given assistance by its conclusion in 2013.
The University of Huddersfield’s Head of Enterprise, Dr Kelly Smith, took on the leadership of the scheme in early 2009 and she expressed her delight at the new funding announcement.
“Some 200 businesses were launched under its aegis and we are now looking to extend this,” says Dr Smith. “In order to take advantage of the help on offer, graduates with business ideas must contact their graduating university.
“Here at Huddersfield, the Graduate Entrepreneurship Project links perfectly with the University’s own student enterprise initiative, the Business Mine, which enables students and graduates to receive expert help and mentoring plus the use of office facilities for up to five years after graduation. Finance is available too. Grants of £1,000 are available to help budding entrepreneurs test the viability of their ideas. They could also then pitch for a start-up grant of £2,400.”
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ProperMaid owner and former student Allison Whitmarsh
ONE such business now in its third year and going from strength to strength is ProperMaid and owner Allison Whitmarsh.
For 20 years, Allison worked for some of the biggest names in the food industry and helped to develop ready meals stocked by all the leading supermarkets.
Then she decided on a new direction and, after studying at the University of Huddersfield and taking advantage of the support of its Business Mine, she launched the cake baking business ProperMaid.
But although the business sticks to its principles of offering a range of high quality products made from the best, locally-sourced ingredients, it has continued to grow. First came a relocation from Allison’s home kitchen to specially-adapted premises in Marsh, Huddersfield.
It went well, but now ProperMaid needs to move again, because there is no scope for expansion at the present premises. The hunt is on for a unit in the Marsh and Lindley areas of Huddersfield, because that is the part of town where most of Allison’s employees dwell.
For the firm’s staff has continued to expand too. There are now eight employees and a full-time apprentice, making a range of cakes supplied to an increasing range of outlets.
But while she rises to the challenges of her successful start-up, Allison still values the back-up and expert advice she can still call on from the University of Huddersfield’s Business Mine. “Three years down the line, I still value the advice I was given,” she says.
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