Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs shortlisted as a finalist in the Kent Charity Awards

February 4, 2015

We are excited to announce that we have been shortlisted in the first ever Kent Charity Awards. You’ll find us in the ‘Community Charity Award Category‘ plus there’s a chance for us to win overall charity of the year. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us.

What are the Kent Charity Awards?

The aim of these awards is to showcase the hard work and perseverance that charities and voluntary groups undertake to make the lives of others better. There are currently no similar awards in Kent and these awards will be unique and become an important date in the third sector diaries. The awards will be open to both small and large charities whether a branch of a national charity, a small community based charity or a voluntary group.

When do you find out if we have won?

We will be attending a gala evening on Thursday 19 March at The Corn Exchange in Rochester, hosted by BBC South East TV’s Rob Smith. There are six categories this year; Heritage and Environment Award, Care Sector Award, Animal Charity Award, Voluntary Award, Community Charity Award and Children’s Charity Award. There will be one winner from each category and then an overall Charity of the Year winner. We will be sure to keep you in the loop of how we get on via our newsletters but if you really can’t wait all the latest news will be on our social media channels Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin

Kent Foundation News

Kent Excellence in Business Awards 2015 – Now Open For Entries!

January 12, 2015

Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2015…Is this you?

Awards are one of the most powerful and cost-effective marketing tools and winning a prestigious KEiBA will help your organisation to stand out from the crowd, send a positive message to your existing customers, attract new business and investors.

Entering KEiBA will help you raise the profile of your organisation and enhance its reputation by promoting the great work you have been doing over the last twelve months, whilst at the same time providing you with a platform to celebrate your success. The KEiBAs are free to enter and open to any business or organisation based and operating in the Kent and Medway area, excluding London Borough postcodes e.g Bromley, Bexley and Orpington.

There are 15 categories to choose from in the awards so it’s well worth having a look to see which ones are best suited to your business. You can enter a maximum of 4 categories.

“The best thing I would say about winning a KEiBA is the credibility it gives your company. It’s helped us through making connections with a wide range of people. So if we’ve approached a bank looking for growth finance or anything like that, it’s just made us a lot more respectable in that sense, showing that we can win an award like this and run a successful business. People seem to respect a company a bit more having gone through this process and actually come out winning.”

Ben Bartlett – Director of Bush Grub Ltd: Start-Up Business of the Year 2014

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Need a bit of advice on the application process?

Give us a call on 01622 694 341

Volunteers Give 750 Hours to Mentor Kent’s Young Entrepreneurs

December 29, 2014

Over the past year over 80 Business Mentors have contributed 750 hours of their time to help young entrepreneurs across the county to develop their business skills and initiatives. With 24 new Mentors trained during 2014 Kent Foundation is well placed to provide the valuable help and guidance that is needed to turn ideas into successful business propositions. As well as offering direct personal 1-2-1 support to 37 young people through a minimum commitment of one hour a month, Mentors have also organised, delivered and raised funding for a range of business support programmes.

Other volunteers have helped with social media, events management and promotional activities.

Kent Foundation Chairman, Allan Mowatt said: ‘Sharing experience and giving tangible support is key to giving young people the confidence and skills to reach their potential. Our Mentors do a fantastic job but equally important are the young people who have volunteered their time to support us. This has included work experience opportunities, placements in the office, event organisation of the Sandwich Enterprise Initiative and our annual event A Blast! Helping promote entrepreneurship has been supported by young people especially in Thanet.’

‘We also had a first this year in that two young business people volunteered their time as Business Mentors and successfully completed their training in September. Their motivation comes from recognising the key part played by their business mentor when they started their own business.’

Bryan Hall a trained Kent Foundation Mentor said:

“Get on a training course as soon as possible because you’ll benefit from it either through the satisfaction of helping, or with your own business”

The benefits of mentoring are summed up by young entrepreneur Kudzi from Kudz Footwear:

“I definitely recommend it to anyone just starting out. Before I started it was just a hobby, the mentoring helped me narrow everything down to what I needed to be successful”

Allan Mowatt added: ‘The Kent Foundation is successful because many different people, do many different things over many, many hours each year. This year has been an exceptional year, with more people doing more. They all deserve our thanks for supporting the present and future Kent economy by helping young people start up their businesses.’

To find out more about becoming a Volunteer, a Business Mentor or to sponsor our charity, get in touch and we’ll be more than happy to meet and have a chat over a coffee 🙂

Kent Foundation News

Success at Sevenoaks Business Startup Workshop

September 29, 2014

This was the final in a series of workshops we have been delivering across West Kent. After success in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells it was now time for us to hit Sevenoaks. So on Saturday 20th September we headed over to House in the Basement Youth Cafe to deliver a workshop to aspiring young entrepreneurs to provide:

Introduction to business planning
Creating and innovating business ideas
Introduction to promoting a business

It was a great success and everyone who attended showed a great enthusiasm towards business and were keen to get their ideas off the ground. We are now eager to carry on working with them by providing ongoing support through our trained Volunteer Business Mentors. They will be matched with a Mentor that suits their business support needs and will be able to meet with them for one hour per month to create action plans and discuss their business issues/ideas.

Post by Kent Foundation for young entrepreneurs.

Funded by:

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Kent Foundation News

Big Lottery Funding received for Edenbridge Enterprise Initiative

August 29, 2014

We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded funding from Awards for All a Big Lottery Fund initiative that funds small, community based projects across the UK.

The Edenbridge Enterprise Initiative will work with young people aged between 16-25 to provide enhanced skills, knowledge, confidence and self esteem in order to become gainfully employed or start their own business. Although the majority of West Kent is fairly urban, Edenbridge has been identified as a rural area within West Kent with high youth unemployment, with no secondary school coupled with infrequent transport links to nearby Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks. With a lack of employment opportunities in the area this has a direct result on some of the local young people, increasing the likelihood of low aspirations and self worth.

We feel it is important to address these issues so Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs has teamed up with social enterprise Target Your Potential who will prepare young people with the necessary skills needed to enter in to employment. This will be paired with exploratory workshops delivered by us into starting a business. To further increase the chances of success young people who participate in the training will be able to access free support from both organisations through monitored work experience or Business Mentoring.

Be a part of it:

As part of the project we will be looking for local business owners and professionals to put themselves forward and get involved. In order to build a community based project and keep the support network within easy reach of young people the involvement locally is crucial. We are on the lookout for those who would be able to offer their services in the form of work experience or becoming a Volunteer Business Mentor. Your input could make a huge life changing impact to the life of a young person and not only that but we are almost certain that you will find the experience highly rewarding. It’s your chance to be a part of their future!

Kent Foundation News

Exploring Business as a Career Option – West Kent

August 15, 2014

Exploring Business as a Career option…

Not something young people immediately think of, but we think it should be a realistic option.

So on the 14th August we headed over to Swanley Youth and Community Centre and held a workshop for 16-19 year olds to discover, explore and find out more about what’s involved in starting a business.

It involved, effective introductions, confidence building and how to sell. The day was capped off with the group split in three teams to design/create their own business, promotional materials and exhibition space. Guests were invited in to visit the exhibition, pose questions to the ‘business owners’ providing a superb environment to practice what had been learnt throughout the day. Overall a great success with plenty of enthusiasm, creativity and thought provoking ideas! Here’s a few snaps from the day:

Post by Kent Foundation for young entrepreneurs.

Do you want to get involved?

We are in Sevenoaks on the 20th September from 11:00am – 2:00pm covering business planning, effective communication and how to market/promote your business. Visit the Sevenoaks Business Start Up Workshop event here…

Tag: Free Business Support

What are the Kent Charity Awards?

When do you find out if we have won?

Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2015…Is this you?

Need a bit of advice on the application process?

Give us a call on 01622 694 341

Funded by:

Be a part of it:

Exploring Business as a Career option…

Do you want to get involved?