Applicants must be aged between 18 and 30
Young entrepreneurs could win support to turn their innovative business ideas into reality under a new competition run by Innovate UK and The Prince’s Trust.
The competition is part of the Ideas Mean Business campaign which aims to help young people aged between 18 and 30 to move forward with their business ideas, wherever they’re from in the country.
Support for young entrepreneurs who win the competition will include funding for activities or resources related to their idea, including the cost of travel to meet clients and partners, training, equipment, IT infrastructure or premises costs, for example.
Also up for grabs is an allowance to cover the time young entrepreneurs spend working on their business idea, as well as mentoring from a former innovation champion.
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The launch of the competition follows research by YouGov last year, which found that 82 per cent of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds found the business sector hard to access, whilst four in five wouldnt know where to gain advice about starting a venture.
Despite these figures, over half of young people claimed theyd like to run their own company, and 39 per cent said they had ideas for products or services they could sell.
To be eligible to apply, applicants must be aged between 18 and 30 and be able to commit 15 hours a week to developing their venture.
Eligible applicants cannot be committed to studying for more than 14 hours a week, however they could be unemployed, or committed to working for less than 35 hours a week. They must also be a UK resident that has the right to work or be in the process of applying to do so.
Young entrepreneurs who currently receive support from the Prince’s Trust in-person enterprise programme are also eligible to apply.
In order to apply, applicants must register with The Prince’s Trust before signing up to and attending one of a series of regional events, to be held across the UK in the next few months. Find out more the dates of these regional events, and how to apply, here.
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