Young Start-up Talent team out to inspire and encourage 16-25 year old

Dean Orgill and Lorraine Nugent speaking to students

The Young Start-up Talent team is once again out and about visiting sixth form students in the area to inspire and encourage 16-25 year olds to have a ‘can do’ attitude towards business. The team has already visited Collyers College, Holy Trinity and The Weald to conduct workshops and assemblies with many more school and college visits planned over the next month across the County.

Judges – Dean Orgil, Chairman of Mayo Wynne Baxter Solicitors, Lorraine Nugent of Media Word Waves, Matthew Tyson of Richard Place Dobson and Andrew Hookway of extech IT Solutions visited The Weald School in Billingshurst and Holy Trinity in Crawley to deliver the assembly to approximately 300 sixth form students at each school.

“It was a great pleasure to deliver our message out to so many students and a delight to see such a good take up with great quality entries already flooding in” commented Dean.

The initiative is now in its third year in the area with heaps of success stories both from previous winners and finalists not only starting up their own businesses but also receiving work experience and full time jobs for some. The initiative has proved such a success in the Gatwick Diamond region that it is soon to launch in the Brighton and Kent areas later this month.

Recyclabook, the project’s winners from 2010 are now selling approximately 30-40 books per day via their online shop www.recyclabook.co.uk . They are also expanding rapidly and are currently looking to recruit a full-time employee. Toby Gillett of Sobiblio – an online e-book library and winner from earlier this year has been in discussions with Penguin Digital and is due to start an internship with Penguin in just a few weeks’ time.

With presentations skills being a key aspect to the project, a new sponsor has joined the team – Dorothy Larios, Director of Nvision Coaching UK (www.Nvisioncoachinguk.com) is offering coaching, support and presenting skills to the candidates before they pitch their ideas to the judging panel. Dorothy is an experienced executive coach and facilitator with over 20 years’ experience and will be great asset to the initiative.

If you would like to find out more about the initiative and interested in either getting involved or entering please visit www.youngstartuptalent.co.uk  

Toby Gillett Winner Young Start Up Talent 2012

Winner Toby Gillett

The winner of the £50,000 prize fund for the Gatwick Diamond’s entrepreneurial initiative, Young Start-up Talent, was announced at an impressive show at the Copthorne Effingham Hotel on Thursday 29th March.

Toby Gillett, 18, from Crawley Down, who attends Imberhorne school, Crawley, was announced as winner of the project with his business idea for an online book library, ‘Sobiblio’.

Toby said, “I’m over the moon, especially after the semi-final where I felt I was quite nervous. I feel extremely grateful for the opportunity that’s now been presented to me.”

Toby’s very proud mum, Christine, said “He has always had an entrepreneurial flair. The first time I was aware of it was at infant school, a friend he played rugby with was diagnosed with cancer, and he wanted to raise money to support him and he arranged a cake and fruit sale. When you bear in mind how young he was, it was amazing, he really did a great job and raised a lot of money for his friend.”

The evening was hosted by the founders of the competition, Lorraine Nugent, MD of Sussex PR agency, Media Word Waves, and Mat Turner, MD Of Creative Pod, who are pictured with Toby.

Special guest speakers included Marion Broughton, Vice President of Thales Training and Simulation and Jane McGill, HR Business Partner for British Airways, who were both on the judging panel.

Business opportunity for 16-25 year olds to win a £50k prize fund in Brighton & Hove!

A prize fund worth £50,000 awaits the winner of Young Start-up Talent, an entrepreneurial initiative supported by a number of local businesses. The project was launched at the PROBIZ County Cricket Ground recently with over 30 local businesses present.

Brighton Launch - Sponsors and Judges

The initiative is aimed at helping 16-25 year olds with an entrepreneurial flair for business to make their dreams a realigvty. The winner will receive thousands of pounds worth of products and services donated by local businesses.

The initiative has been running successfully in the Gatwick Diamond for the past three years with a string of success stories including those that have gone on to start up a business, received work experience from the judges and sponsors with some leading to full time employment. This exciting opportunity is now open to 16-25 year olds who live, work or study in the Brighton and Hove region.  Visit www.youngstartuptalent to find out how to take part in this fantastic opportunity.

The judging panel consists of seven of the local leading business professionals and includes:  John Keenan – Business Editor of The Argus, Dean Orgill – Chairman – Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP, Matthew Tyson – Director – Richard Place Dobson, Gary Peters – Managing Director – BrightonandHoveJobs.com, Matt Turner – Director – Creative Pod, Lorraine Nugent – Director – Media Word Waves and Stephen Mason – Managing Director – Mason Consulting and entrepreneur who will independently be looking to invest in one of the entries.

Brighton Judges

It was announced that the closing date for entries for the Brighton & Hove region is 31st January 2013. In the meantime, the Young Start-up Talent judges and sponsors team will be visiting schools, colleges, universities and youth groups in the local area to deliver workshops and assemblies to inspire young people to participate.

The semi final will take place on Tuesday 5th March at City College and a further ‘Dragons Den’ style final with the judges will be filmed at the College on Tuesday 12th March. The winner will be announced at a grand unveiling event on Tuesday 26th March at the College’s restaurant at The Amex Community Stadium to an audience of approximately 300 key business partners and heads of local schools.

Speakers at the event included the founders of the initiative, Matthew Turner and Lorraine Nugent along with Matthew Tyson of Richard Place Dobson who has also been a judge for the project since its inception and started his career as an accountant with work experience at Richard Place Dobson some 20 years ago and is now the Director of the highly successful accountancy practice.

Other speakers included previous finalists who all told of how the opportunity was not all about the winner and talked of how being part of the initiative had worked for them. David Newark who went on to start his business Connect-a-gadget, Timothy Armoo who has also started a business – a magazine called EntrepreneurXpress and George Fisher who talked about how by taking part in the initiative had resulted in full time employment after work experience at Richard Place Dobson.

Stephen Mason of Mason Consulting and a proven entrepreneur with several successful businesses, with a combined turnover of over £60million told of his story. Stephen will be looking closely at all entries with a hope to invest in one of the entries.

Founders of the project, Lorraine Nugent and Matt Turner commented “We are excited and pleased to be bringing this initiative and opportunity to Brighton & Hove and delighted that so many are backing the initiative either financially or by providing products or services for the project. The initiative will enable the young entrepreneurs in the local area to be inspired and for some to achieve their goals of running a business. We hope that in the process we will also inspire others to consider it as an option”.

Sponsors of the initiative include:

City College – Brighton & Hove

Extech IT Solutions

Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP

Richard Place Dobson

BrightonandHoveJobs.com

The Argus

Creative Pod

Media Word Waves

Brighton & Hove City Council

Future Proof Consulting Solutions

Mtc2

Avensys

MCR Print

Sussex County Cricket Club

Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce

Fastsigns

Young Enterprise

Heart FM

BIS