2022 Highlights, University of York

This week, we are celebrating our 6 month anniversary. We look back on what we've achieved so far and our plans for 2023.

Enterprise Works

Enterprise Works is a new business hub in York that helps businesses to grow and drives social change by encouraging and supporting entrepreneurial activity. We bring together regional businesses, entrepreneurs, students and researchers to nurture enterprising talent, help businesses to start and grow and deliver enterprise for all.

Watch our overview video here: https://youtu.be/lSJLVfJ4Ok0

Gateway to University facilities

Enterprise Works is a gateway for small businesses to access the University’s existing business support services including; training courses, internships, student placements, student and graduate recruitment, office and working spaces, accelerator programmes and consultancy services.

Bringing the community together

Enterprise Works is community led. Our start-up community is made up of student entrepreneurs, Phase One incubator tenants and local start-ups who have requested support. Collectively, they identified that they needed opportunities to build their advice and support networks, find new clients and to understand HMRC.

Creating networking events and partnership building opportunities with our alumni, the city, and the Merchant Adventurers, we have supported 114 entrepreneurs who noted our events were ”a great way to connect with like-minded individuals and make connections for their businesses”.

Eagle Labs

The University of York has agreed a partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs to provide business support and advice to entrepreneurs and businesses in the city, based at The Catalyst and The Guildhall.

Businesses, which have been operating for a year or more, can access banking experts, a network of co-working spaces, mentors and learning tools, as well as events and growth programmes for ambitious entrepreneurs and businesses.

Enterprise Works Connect

When growing a business, we understand powerful networks and the right advice is crucial.

The 470+ strong Enterprise Works Connect community enables access to the right people, skills, workspaces, funding and contacts that will drive our community’s companies forward.

Members can ask for informal advice from expert practitioners, experienced entrepreneurs and peer support from fellow entrepreneurs. Recently, questions have been asked about exporting, motivation and personal discipline, funding for small businesses, and how to turn a business idea into reality.

Next year, we will develop this network as an integral part of the support offer for new community-based entrepreneurs to ensure they have a network they can rely on.

Advocating for our entrepreneur community

As well as connecting entrepreneurs with the right people to support their business, we also help them to promote their businesses through social media, articles and newsletters.

Working with alumni and entrepreneurs at the University, we produced a series of business advice and entrepreneurial journey articles telling their stories and the challenges they overcame in launching their businesses.

These stories have been widely shared via social and digital media, including our monthly alumni newsletter, increasing exposure for our community’s businesses and highlighting the struggles businesses face to policy makers and business support programmes.

Unlocking the power of our social enterprises

Enterprise Works and colleagues from York St John University hosted over 80 social organisations at our “Unlocking the impact of our social organisations” event on the 20th October.

The Ford Family Foundation attended to hear from six fantastic regional social enterprises, who pitched for up to £200k of investment to increase their scalability, growth and impact.

The event celebrated social organisations as beacons of inclusion, diversity and opportunity and reconsidered their role in supporting the region, socially and economically. Speakers shared their best practice to help these organisations expand their impact through partnerships, funding and engagement with the private sector.

As a result of this event, we are currently developing a social enterprise accelerator and growth programme and have worked with the regional Growth Hub to ensure their support and funding is available for social enterprises.

Supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs

23 students from All Saints RC School took part in a week-long entrepreneurial skills workshop, run by the University of York and Entrepreneurial Spark. This was a week-long intensive programme for BTEC Business Studies students to learn entrepreneurial mindsets and skills, culminating in an opportunity to pitch a business idea to a panel of VIP judges.

Coming next

Networking lunch and expert session on telesales - 17th January
Changing the world of work - 4 day working week - 17th January
Social:Private partnership networking event - 18th January, Guildhall
Enterprise; everyone’s business training course available online for anyone from December
Social enterprise support programme – accelerator, follow-on space, careers fair, growth programme
Investor day to help our start-up community understand the investment ecosystem
Support for refugee entrepreneurs
Innovation Day to support businesses on their innovation journey
Mentoring/coaching programme
Enterprise component into existing widening participation activity and Westfield Centre