Springboard for budding talent in Shropshire

While matters have improved over the last 12 months, there still remains 19.1 per cent of 16 to 24 year-olds hunting desperately for work which just will not come.

Fourteen months ago, a new service was set up in Shropshire to address what was then an even more disturbing figure.

Young Britain was launched on Hadley Park in Telford, to help young people to start their own businesses and overcome the lack of employment opportunities.

Budding entrepreneurs responded in their droves. A total of 250 new businesses have been launched in the last 14 months, thanks in part to more than £1 million in start-up loans.

Project director Fay Easton said: "Given the horrendous youth unemployment figures when we started, we thought we would see a lot of accidental entrepreneurship, whereby young people don't have any other choice but to start a business as a last resort.

"That's not what we have seen at all. We have actually been inundated by amazing young people, and not only those with brilliant ideas.

"There's a misconception that you have to have a brand new idea, a 'eureka moment', but really you have just got to understand your market and provide a service better than exists at the moment."

The history of the Young Britain campaign has been a mixture of entrepreneurs promoting the weird and wonderful, and those driven by a remarkable work ethic.

Perhaps the most unusual example of companies to pass through the doors of the scheme is one that is currently on the cusp of getting off the ground.

Silkin Rickshaw has been set up by two young men who want to run a rickshaw service along the Silkin Way, a cycle route which scythes through the town connecting its business parks and the tourist hotspots of the Ironbridge Gorge.

Joe Lewis Owen and Sirvan Singh were friends from primary school who have now come together on the new project, and are now building their unusual vehicle ready to take to Telford's streets.

On the other hand, Alex Colley, from Shrewsbury, is an interior architect working in a competitive area already populated by numerous older people, but has been contracted to work on the offices of a law firm in the town.

"People say 'I bet you get loads of app developers', but what has been surprising is that we have had the same categories of businesses which have been starting up for 20 to 40 years," Mrs Easton said.

"What connects them all is a maturity beyond their years. They are determined, and very community spirited. I tried to write down 20 companies to watch, but I didn't know where to start. We had a micro brewery in Worcestershire that had phenomenal growth, and a restaurant in Hanley that now has a franchise opportunity and employs a dozen people."

Young Britain is based in the Enterprise Hub on Hadley Park in Telford, with its building given over for use by the scheme for free by its Graham and Jenny Wynn, of the nearby driver training company TTC Group.

It was backed by European Regional Development Fund and administers loans on behalf of the Government-funded Start Up Loans Company.

In June, the European backing draws to a close, but hopes remain the scheme will continue to operate and support more start-up businesses.

Mrs Easton added: "This has established that there's a need and a desire for entrepreneurship in this age group.

"Graham is keeping us in accommodation at TTC Group, which is fantastic, and we will still be operating as a business start-up forum, and going out to businesses to say here's what can happen. We don't want this to be constantly propped up by public funding.

"We will be knocking on doors and asking businesses if they want to be involved, and as much as anything else that's a way for them to discover young talent, all kinds of people that established businesses would love to see.

"We need about £25,000 a year to keep it going – it's not exactly the national debt, it's so achievable. We need five companies with £5,000 each, and after tax relief they would be paying £3,000. There's a real feelgood factor to it all."