KAYE announce two new committee members!

KAYE-rectangle-124Kent Association of Young Entrepreneurs (KAYE) welcomes two young entrepreneurs to their committee. This is great news as their relationship, enthusiasm, engagement and real life experiences of being an entrepreneur will prove to be invaluable as they bring a fresh new insight to business support across Kent. They have chosen to take the route of enterprise as their career option and chosen arguably the best county (Kent of course) to start up in. This move will encourage a more tailored set of business support events and initiatives to engage and encourage enterprise amongst more of Kent’s young people.

The first candidate Ben Bartlett describes himself as an accidental entrepreneur. He has a real passion for exotic pets but their expensive upkeep was something he was not so keen on. This sparked an idea – and Claws and Jaws was born. Using his weird and wonderful creatures as a business, sharing his expertise and knowledge to his advantage by hosting a range of interactive parties and animal experiences. Plus after spotting a rather gruesome gap in the market he launched Bush Grub selling some rather interesting snacks…

The second candidate Gemma Blacker owner of This Art of Mine loves all things creative. Based in the beautiful Kent countryside it really is a one stop shop for all your creative workshops. There is something for everyone, and if there isn’t they are always happy to listen to new ideas. A fantastic way to learn a new skill or just to try your hand at something a little bit different.

Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs have a fantastic relationship with KAYE and are pleased to say we have successfully worked together on numerous occasions to bring business support projects and events to young people across the County of Kent. Working in collaboration provides a unique platform to outreach and promote more young entrepreneurs. To find out more about KAYE click here…

Monks & Co Clothing set to open in West Malling

monks-amp-co-logo-rectangle-741“Monks Clothing…run by humans not computers” this is their motto and they literally are sticking to it. Struggling to find an online store with a personalised experience they decided to do it their own way and introduce a new way of shopping.

With the internet being riddled with shops they have opened up a whole new approach putting their foot down by saying a firm “NO” to automated services and saying ‘hello’ to a new way of shopping. They are making it easy to get in touch and there will always be a way of contacting them so you can make an informed decision about your purchase.

This is not just another online store though, Monks and Co are opening up shop in West Malling, Kent to bring their products to the people. The chance to browse in a chilled out environment and none of the stress of large shopping centres. West Malling is a popular destination, a small village with plenty of appeal for shopping, trendy wine bars and pubs.

monks-clothing-rectangle-738Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs met Amy and were immediately impressed with her initial ideas and enthusiasm for the business. We are pleased to be supporting Amy and the business through our increasingly popular Business Mentoring service. Monks and Co is shooting forward in the right direction and we can certainly see there will be many more success stories to come. Watch this space for the Monks Clothing store opening soon…in the mean time, catch up with them on:

Store opening Saturday 2nd November!

Join them at their launch event and keep up to date on:

Website          Facebook          Twitter

KEiBA 2013 Young Entrepreneur of the Year

keiba-young-entrepreneur-2013-kent-foundation-rectangle-710KEiBA 2013 Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Owen Hunnam of Vine Digital 

Owen Hunnam, Founder and Publishing Director at Vine Publishing. Owen founded Vine magazine, a community lifestyle brand for Sevenoaks from his bedroom 6 years after dropping out of university to pursue his dream of launching his own business. Since then the business has expanded into a full-service communications agency working with a diverse range of clients across a broad spectrum of industries. Employing 17 staff, Owen and his business partner Charlie de Rusett, are shifting their wider strategic focus into developing cloud-based web applications.

vine-digital-sevenoaks-square-708“I am ambitious, driven, and determined to succeed in everything I do”

How to connect with Vine:

Website  Facebook  Twitter

We wish Owen and everyone at Vine Digital every future success with his future business developments and will definitely be on the look out for his latest business news!

keiba-2013-kent-foundation-square-709

The Finalists:

It was a close call for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award so meet the other two extremely hard working finalists.

Piperis Filippaios – DigitalBeans: Specialising in Digital Marketing with a strong focus on Search Engine Optimisation. The business was founded when he was just 22 and has been working hard at it ever since. Certainly not a contender to stand still, with many ideas in the pipeline for the future.

How to connect with DigitalBeans:

Website   Facebook   Twitter

 

Anthonky Klokkou – Sleeping Giant Media: Client Services Director at Sleeping Giant Media, the search and social agency. They aim to get more relevant traffic to your website so that your customers can find you online. Using the latest techniques in digital and social marketing Anthony strives for success, ensuring his growing team are well equipped to deliver results for clients both effectively and efficiently

How to connect with Sleeping Giant Media:

Website   Twitter

 

KEiBA – Kent Excellence in Business Awards is an awards scheme staged and produced by Kent County Council and the KM Group to recognise and reward excellence in Kent’s businesses.

SLA Partnership chooses Kent Foundation for it’s Corporate Support

A boost for young entrepreneurs!

Two of the County’s leading charities helping young people reach their business and employment aspirations are to benefit from a major new sponsorship deal.

Recruitment specialists SLA Partnership are to give £6,000 a year (£3000 to each charity) to support the Kent Foundation and the Medway Youth Trust. The Maidstone-based company is also looking to back the organisation of a sponsored golf fund-raising event for the charities later in the year.

sla-partnership-ltd-sponsors-kent-foundation-rectangle-685Welcoming the deal, Paul Barron, Director of Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs said:

“This is a significant commitment by SLA to support our work and we are grateful to them for their commitment and generosity. As well as the money, their expertise in the job market will be invaluable in transforming ideas and initiatives into reality for those people that we engage with. Like all charities, we have to work really hard to find financial backing and I am delighted that they have chosen to back us at this challenging time.”

Medway Youth Trust’s Chief Executive, Graham Clewes, said:

“SLA’s support through their money, time and expertise is a tremendous boost for Medway Youth Trust and for our careers and employability work with young people in Kent and Medway. I am particularly struck by SLA’s desire for a long term partnership to help us in our work and I hope their lead will be an encouragement to other companies”.

Sarah Landry managing partner of SLA Partnership LTD had this to say:

“We pride ourselves on taking a thoroughly professional approach to our business, using our industry expertise and experience to provide candidates and clients alike with a service that is efficient and user-friendly. This is an ideal fit with the work of these two charities who, like us, look to encourage ways of achieving aspirations and ambitions. We focus on providing a quality of service to find a perfect match and I believe we have now achieved this with our sponsorship deal for Kent Foundation and Medway Youth Trust.”

Promote your business whilst supporting others!

To find out more about becoming a sponsor:

Call: 01622 694 341

Email: kent.foundation@kent.gov.uk

A huge array of business talent, ideas and passion!

kei-contestants-2013-rectangle-675The young entrepreneurs started off a little tense and a few nerves were flying around the room. The young entrepreneurs knew this was their chance to pitch their business and win a fantastic package of business support.

Kicking the evening off was a little bit of light hearted networking. It provided a smashing chance for like minded people to express their visions. The important factor was to get that all important headstart in discussing their business ideas with the Business Partners on the judging panel.

Time to pitch…

The contestants were ready and raring to go. After attending preparatory workshops to fine tune their business ideas and rehearse their pitches, now was their time to shine. Each contestant was allocated five precious minutes to showcase their business and promote their ideas to the best of their ability.

Being so passionate about their business ideas really came across in their presentations, a great display of talent and ideas. There was even a bit of creativity thrown in to the mix with some magic and football skills. All of them should be ecstatic with their performances as all of their visions are something to shout about.

kei-winners-2013-herne-bay-music-rectangle-676The big decision? 

After viewing all the hard work from the contestants, it was now time for the Business Partners to leave the room and decide upon a winner. This was no easy task, with such a mix of ideas the decision took some contemplation but after much debate a winner was picked:

Carl Crane and Emily Edwards of Herne Bay Music

They are currently utilising a gap in the market. Having recognised the huge array of talented musicians in the Herne Bay area, their mission is to provide a platform in which those who love creating music and those who love listening to it can come together to share this passion. With many events already under their sleeve and many more planned they have expressed plans of expansion in the future so… watch this space!

The Peer Award

The contestants had the chance to vote amongst themselves for the person/business they thought was the most inspiring and passionate. An award to be proud of, being recognised by your peers is a great accolade to have. The award went to Josh Woodcock who captured his peers attention with his bold and enthusiatic personality. His passion for business is second to none. Josh provides high energy entertainment for children of all ages and is now aspiring to reach out to the corporate community.

Guest Speaker – Trevor Sturgess – Kent Business Editor

Keeping up to date with current business affairs is Trevor’s passion. Having worked with the Kent Messenger group for over 20 years he shared his wealth of knowledge with the young entrepreneurs. Trevor provided inspiration and reiterated the need to market, promote and keep up to date with current business affairs. Look for that all important gap in the market before someone else finds it.

Find out more about all the contestants here:

Corralex Media – Jason Correia – High quality online video and advertising solutions

Ambition House – Marcus Ball and Diego Bejarano – An innovative approach to starting a company and improvong employability for students and graduates

Herne Bay Music – Carl Crane and Emily Edwards – Bringing local music talent and those who love music together.

Josh Woodcock – Corporate Events and Childrens Parties

Yo’s Street-Style Football – Yofi Yvarro – Engaging football programmes teaching and showcasing tricks.

Virgil Alin Marinescu – Aspires to create and run a designer fashion label aimed at students

Radoslaw Kowalski – Aspires to run a fresh food business specialising in nuts and seeds

Avril Wintle – Aspires to run her own pet store and pet food business

 

A final thank you to our Business Partners

They played a great part in the evening not only judging the performances and business ideas but pledging offers of professional support to the young people:

Adrian Wenn – Chairman of the panel

Terry Hewett – Zest – The Creative Communications Agency

Katie Hodson – Wilkins Kennedy Accountants and Business Advisers

Andrew Watson – Girlings Solictors

Rob Reynolds – Wilkins Kennedy Accountants and Business Advisers

Wayne Wright – WSQ Solutions

Nick Christodoulou – Lloyds TSB Mid Kent Commercial Banking

A Blast Is Back!

a-blast-is-back-business-networking-kent-rectangle-662Face to face networking is still a favourite marketing tool amongst businesses. Creating a business community, expanding your social network and finding the all important contacts. Kent Foundation holds an annual event to promote the importance of this, offering young entrepreneurs free exhibition space and the chance for businesses across Kent to develop that link in the business chain.

With over 150 young people and businesses in attendance the evening went off to a flying start. The room soon filled up, and with all those like minded people in one place their was a certain buzz about the room. Don’t forget the amazingJosh Woodcock providing magic to add that extra sparkle to the evening!

BLAST OFF!

This was when the serious networking really began. A fun and interactive approach to speed networking – Blast Off! was introduced by Paul Barron – Director of Kent Foundation. Do you ever find it difficult to pinpoint those who might of interest to your own business? A unique approach was implemented, questioning the audience in order to identify those from various business sectors. Hands were raised as the questions were asked. Eyes scanned across the room, with businesses taking a mental note of who their were going to approach. Blast Off! businesses had five minutes to swap cards, information and gain that all important face to face contact. Now just to follow up those leads!

kent-foundation-business-networking-rectangle-670Presentations

A message was delivered that entrepreneurship needs to be promoted as a realistic career choice. It is important to recognise that young people are starting businesses now and having support enables them to have an increased chance of success. Talking about success takes us on to the next part of the evening:

KAYE Success Session (Kent Association of Young Entrepreneurs) – Jonnie Jensen committee member of KAYE presented interviews with previous winners of the KEiBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. We found out why they started a business, the struggles of a start up, the rewards of owning your business and the the fun parts too. Video coming soon…

Luke Quilter of Sleeping Giant Media – Winner 2011

Craig Harrison of Aquaread  – Winner 2012

The Entrepreneur Profiling Tool – presented by Alex Kofinas introduced and questioned who would become an entrepreneur? Is it in our genes, personality, background, networks or learning patterns. The Profiling Tool is being designed to answer some of these questions and discover the traits of an entrepreneur. The benefit of such a tool is that it will help identify areas where young entrepreneurs are lacking support, this can then be tailored to suit their needs and increase their chances of business success.

Time To Celebrate!

With a fantastic turnout of young entrepreneurs showcasing their businesses there was an added bonus of winning a Peer Award. Young entrepreneurs voted amongst themselves for who they thought was the best networker/exhibitor. The votes were in and the award was presented to:

Elle Skinner – Elle’s Cupcakery

Another fantastic prize – Daniel Warren – Mint Fresh Services was presented with a year’s free membership kindly donated by Federation of Small Business and Roger House. It means so much to an up and coming business. The business concentrates on providing honest and reliable cleaning services to both commercial and domestic markets.  A absolutely superb prize, opening so many channels of support and business growth to a young entrepreneur.

Supporters of Enterprise

Kent Foundation relies heavily on in kind support and donationsto keep our services up and running. We would like to send our thanks to:

Trevor Sturgess – Editor of Kent Messenger Group – Business Editor 

Alex Kofinas – Working in partnership with University of Greenwich to develop the Entrepreneur Profiling Tool

David Ing – For his ongoing support and recognition of the need to support young entrepreneurs and business across Kent

Roger HouseFederation of Small Business – Donating a year’s free membership and business support.

Dick Fedorcio – Providing marketing support and networking on the evening.