More than 50 people thinking about starting a business at home attended the Business Begins At Home event in Nottingham on Home Enterprise Day (Friday 20 November), during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).

Organised by Unleashing Enterprise (the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) supported enterprise programme) and Nottingham City Council, in partnership with Nottingham Business Venture (NBV) and The Prince’s Trust, the event was designed to encourage more people to start a business from home and inspire existing businesses to grow.

Delegates took part in workshops that encouraged them to think about whether a home business was right for them, how to develop their ideas and access financial support services.

Phil Bramhall, Enterprise Skills Development Manager at emda, said: “Starting a business at home can be a great way of taking an idea and turning it into a commercial venture whilst gaining the confidence to build the business up. With the changing economic circumstances that are inevitable in a recession, there are even more opportunities than ever before to start a business.  Our Unleashing Enterprise programme helps people find the information and inspiration they need to do something they love, and make it pay.

“This event was a great way of introducing people to the idea of starting a home business and helping them understand whether it’s right for them. It also highlighted how people from all backgrounds and circumstances could develop their ideas and access the support that’s available.”

Keynote speaker and entrepreneur Lisa Warner spoke about her experience of starting and running her home-based business Fink Cards, which produces conversation cards to encourage interaction at family mealtimes.

“I have been a stay at home mum for almost all of my adult life,” said Lisa.  “But three years ago my husband and I bought a business from a neighbour and that experience gave me the confidence to start my own business doing something that I was passionate about.

“I started Fink with a very small amount of money, but with a massive vision and it has been an amazing first year in business. Today’s event has been a great opportunity to talk with existing entrepreneurs about their experiences and to offer advice to other participants looking to start up a home business.”

Information points at the event included Enterprise Nation, NBV, The Prince’s Trust, First Enterprise Business Agency, HMRC, Bizignition, Smith Cooper Accountants and PRIME.

The event was one of a range of activities and events taking place across the region as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week – a worldwide entrepreneurial movement that aims to encourage people to unleash their enterprising talents and turn their ideas into reality.

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Issued on behalf of emda / Unleashing Enterprise by Lava. For further information please contact Louise or Eamonn at Lava on 01522 842 800 / 07870 567 968 or louise@lavapr.co.uk / eamonn@lavapr.co.uk

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Notes to Editors:

About Unleashing Enterprise:

Through East Midlands Development Agency (emda) the Unleashing Enterprise partnership aims to further develop a clear and strong connection between all organisations actively involved in delivering, supporting or funding enterprise skills.

This Unleashing Enterprise website has been designed to underpin enterprise skills campaigns to include Enterprise Week now known as Global Entrepreneurship Week (held annually in November) and the Enterprising Streak Campaign (the East Midlands year-round campaign to support enterprise skills) which are specifically targeted at young people aged 14 to 30 years.

Whilst emda manages the project on a daily basis, the partnership is represented by the Unleashing Enterprise Steering Group.  This Steering Group has drawn members from across the region to reflect the diversity and richness of the agenda.  The key is to focus on existing activity and to capitalise on opportunity and reduce duplication.

Unleashing Enterprise believes that enterprise is a skill that can be taught, a skill that can be picked up, improved, honed and applied.  We recognise the depth of expertise across the region and seek to draw together practitioners to help develop these skills to help current, and future, generations become more enterprising.

About emda

East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development.

Ten years on, independent evaluation shows emda has:

• Had a significant impact on the region’s economy
• Generated economic benefits that substantially outweigh its overall costs
• Put back over £9 of economic output (or GVA) into the regional economy for every £1 it spends
• Produced more than £1 billion in economic benefits per year
• A wider impact on people, places and businesses in the East Midlands that cannot be captured by figures alone.

emda is committed to supporting the region through the current downturn and has put in place a range of measures to provide real help during these challenging times.

Over the long term, emda’s aim is to deliver the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy (RES) by working in partnership with public, private and voluntary organisations.  The RES highlights the themes of productivity, sustainability and equality and sets out key priorities until 2020 to ensure the vision for ‘a flourishing region’ can be achieved.

For more details visit www.emda.org.uk

About emda’s support of Global Entrepreneurship Week

Since 2004 emda has been coordinating partners to deliver a regional response to the national Enterprise Week (now called Global Entrepreneurship Week) campaign as well as developing a year round culture of enterprise within the East Midlands.  emda aims to create a culture which supports enterprising people and recognises that making money and having a positive social impact can go hand in hand. Visit www.emda.org.uk for more information.

Unleashing Enterprise Partnership

Unleashing Enterprise is creating a partnership for all enterprise educators to pioneer a culture of enterprise across the East Midlands. The partnership is managed by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and developed in close partnership with educators, employers, enterprise agencies, policy makers and funding organisations.

The programme is helping to facilitate a more cohesive and planned approach to the development and delivery of the enterprise offer in the East Midlands. It is also helping to promote opportunities for all people, but mainly young people, to take up the enterprise skills offer in their schools, communities or places of work. For more information visit www.unleashing-enterprise.co.uk