A
Liverpool project which gives free advice to people who want to start their own
business has helped more than 1,600 budding entrepreneurs since it began life.
Over the past five years, Deputy Mayor Cllr Gary Millar has been sharing his considerable business acumen with self-starting city dwellers through a regular series of advice drop-in clinics at Liverpool’s Central Library.
Cllr
Millar has been joined by a series of guest experts who regularly pass on their
knowledge, wisdom and experience to the eager audiences.
The
entrepreneur-in-residence sessions have proved to be a smash hit, with more
than 1,600 people popping-in for pointers since they began.
And
2019 has proved to be a bumper business year, with a total of 310 people
receiving first-rate help and advice.
The
project’s recently released end-of-year report for 2019 shows that 96 per cent of
those who have taken advantage of the free sessions have come away happy and
inspired.
As
well as one-to-one meetings, Cllr Millar and the team have supported 192 business
advice meetings and a further 118 meetings offering guidance on Intellectual
Property (IP).
The
breakdown shows that 40 per cent of those taking advantage of the sessions were
female entrepreneurs. A quarter of all those who turned up for advice were from
the city’s black and minority ethnic communities and 23 per cent of budding
business brains were under 35.
Half
of all those people seeking advice were planning to start their own business.
Typical
comments from those attending the sessions include:
“Excellent
gained useful, practical, insightful knowledge and asked challenging questions
to help me identify aims for improvement.”
And: “Really good information. Put me through my paces – good to think about elements that I might not have thought about otherwise.”
Cllr
Millar said: “It’s been a great
year for business in Liverpool and we have been excited to see so many bright,
enthusiastic entrepreneurs coming to see us at the library’s Business and
Intellectual Property Centre, the BIPC, in search of the boost they may need to
get their business grow and under way.
Interestingly they don’t just come from Liverpool but as far afield as
Yorkshire and Wales! Thank you to them all for taking that bold step in
reaching out for help.
“I
must also thank our volunteer unpaid specialist mentors for their amazing help
week in and week
out for the last five years. Plus of course, I thank our wonderful
library and BIPC staff for supporting our businesses every day of the week. In
addition, what is really pleasing this year is we are seeing an increasingly
diverse range of people popping in for guidance. It shows our city’s dynamic
make up and gives us great signs for a
promising future for our city.
“We
urge anyone who aspires to start up a new business and wants help growing their
existing business in 2020 to drop in to one of our sessions any Thursday at
Central Library between 1pm and 4pm.”
Entrepreneur-in-residence
is part of the Central Library’s Business and IP Centre – which gives residents
access to a wealth of free information and support.
The drop-in sessions take place every Thursday
between 1pm and 4pm at the library and on the first Saturday of every month.
