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BiG ideas and bright sparks
BiG: Make it Your Business, Sheffield’s Local Enterprise Growth Initiative, is aimed at increasing entrepreneurship and business start-ups in the city. The BiG: Make it Your Business team is working across Sheffield’s neighbourhoods and schools to encourage people to think about enterprise and to make sure that Sheffield is the easiest place to set up and grow a business.
Since its launch, BiG has supported 300 new business start ups in Sheffield. It has provided more than 1,800 people, who were considering setting up businesses, with at least three hours worth of support and advice and it has supported more than 600 existing businesses to help develop their business further. In total, BiG has engaged with over 5,000 people in Sheffield - a figure which highlights an exciting entrepreneurial spirit across the city.
BiG Ideas Factory
BiG, along with partners, supported the Global Entrepreneurship Week by holding more than 45 events including The BiG Ideas Factory; an event designed to generate new business ideas, identify opportunities in the region and explore the feasibility of existing business ideas.
Colin Ross, Cabinet Member for Employment, Enterprise and Development, said: "We want Sheffield to be a city that fosters and encourages enterprise. To make sure that Sheffield is the easiest place, not only to set up a new business, but also to grow that business….”
Make Your Mark Challenge
A group of five young entrepreneurs from Wisewood School in Sheffield were announced as runners up in the national final of the 2009 Make Your Mark Challenge, the UK’s largest enterprise challenge for 14-16 year olds.
The team impressed the judges with their idea H2 Power, a water turbine that is attached to a drainpipe so that when it rains, or when waste water runs through the drain pipe, it generates electricity that charges a portable battery. They were presented with a cheque for £600 for the school to spend on developing their business idea.