Enterprise bus travels nationwide to encourage more people to start and grow their own business
10 AUGUST, 2011 - StartUp Britain, the major enterprise initiative for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, will begin a bus tour of some of the UK’s entrepreneurial hot spots in a bid to celebrate, inspire and accelerate Britain’s start-up talent. Throughout August and September, the StartUp Britain bus will visit 14 locations across the country with the aim of encouraging more people to start and grow their own business.
The StartUp Britain campaign team will travel on a bus, complete with experts, mentors, entrepreneurs and small business authors, to locations including Brighton, Cambridge, Birmingham, Sheffield and York, in an on-going pursuit to encourage budding entrepreneurs in all areas of Britain to start-up their own businesses.
The StartUp Britain campaign shines a spotlight on the vast array of business support that is available online. The organisation is backed by a number of companies who have pledged their support to Britain’s budding entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Alongside Intuit, the tour will also be joined by StartUp Britain’s founding sponsors: AXA, Barclays, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, MITIE and PayPal, who will each be giving specialist business advice and discounts to entrepreneurs across the UK.
Sally Revell, Head of Marketing at Intuit UK said: "Small businesses form the backbone of Britain and what better way of supporting and encouraging these entrepreneurs than by providing our expert advice on how they can best manage their finances. "Not only will this tour give vital help to start-ups and small businesses up and down the country, but it will spur them on to give the UK the economic boost that it needs."
One of the key stops on the tour will be a visit to MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival in Sheffield on 22 September, where Secretary of State for Business, the Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, will be opening the festival to over 2,500 delegates. Cameron Mclean Vice President of PayPal UK, Merchant Services said: “PayPal is proud to be a founding sponsor of Start Up Britain. PayPal UK supports payment processing for businesses of all sizes from start ups to major national brands. Small businesses are vital to the British economy and we at PayPal want to assist businesses to flourish and grow.”
Di Mayze, founder of start-up business BuggyTug and a local ambassador of StartUp Britain, said: “I am delighted to be involved as a StartUp Britain Local Ambassador. When I first saw one of the founders Emma Jones talk about StartUp Britain I knew immediately it was something I wanted to be part of. “Working by yourself at home, like I and many other start-ups do, can be quite lonely, and it's brilliant to not only bring start-ups together, but more importantly offer them much needed support and advice. I'm very much looking forward to being on the StartUp Britain bus tour in Nottingham.”
Emma Jones, co-founder and interim chief executive of StartUp Britain, said:"Thanks to help and support from our local StartUp champions, this tour allows us to take StartUp Britain across Britain. The bus will travel from north to south and east to west loaded with business experts, start-up advice and valuable offers. “We will be meeting with students and helping them turn ideas into ventures and we'll be visiting employees moving from employment into self-employment. I look forward to welcoming hundreds of start-ups and small businesses on board!"
The bus will be visiting regional enterprise and innovation centres, as well as schools and universities across Britain. Once on board the bus, entrepreneurs will receive mentoring, business advice and take part in speed networking sessions from successful entrepreneurs and business leaders.
For more details and to register interest in boarding the bus, please visit the campaign website at http://www.startupbritain.org/summerbustour/
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