New Online Toolkit for Budding Entrepreneurs in Coventry & Warwickshire to Become the Next Richard Branson

A new online toolkit could help budding young entrepreneurs in Coventry and Warwickshire become the next Steve Jobs or Richard Branson – without the pressure and cost of university.

With the number of university applications in the UK falling and drop-out rates rising, more and more teenagers are looking to build a career without the need to continue in higher education.

And with this summer’s A Level results showing a drop in students gaining a C grade or above, the new CW Enterpreneur’s ToolKit could provide the perfect solution for aspiring businessmen and women.

Recently launched by the CW Growth Hub Business Solutions – an arm of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) the toolkit provides users with the rudiments of running a business and guides them through each stage.

It covers everything from assessing the risks and rewards, development of a business, sales and marketing, pipeline, manufacturing through to exit.

This includes working out whether they really ought to start at all – or find another idea.

Designed to encourage entrepreneurship, the new toolkit is aimed at people who, at the very earliest stage of starting a business, have an idea but very little else in place.

And once all stages of the toolkit are completed, they will have gained a qualification equivalent to an NVQ Level 4.

Jeremy Moore, Head of Business Solutions, said: “This is an incredibly useful tool for people, especially young people, who want to enter the world of business, but are unsure where to start.

“For many teenagers these days, the idea of continuing their studies at university and accruing a mountain of debt in the process, can be off-putting. Many are keen to begin their business career, some may even have a lucrative idea of their own but are not sure what the right steps are.

“This new tool kit will help them take that first step on the career ladder and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls and risks that can make a business hit the rocks.”

The author of the CW Entrepreneur’s Toolkit is Darin Tudor, a former RAF aeronautical engineer who went on to enjoy a successful business career, rising to Group Managing Director of a venture capital firm and taking into the top 100 fastest growing companies in the UK.

After brokering the deal to sell that company he then set up his own enterprise and later established a series of invitation-only members’ organisations for SMEs in the Aerospace, Defence and Energy markets. There are now 30 such ‘clusters’ in 14 countries.

It was while he was ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ at Coventry University that he first distilled 28 years of knowledge in business into a toolkit for students, staff and external businesses. The CW GrowthHub has exclusive rights to his updated version of the toolkit.

Coventry and Warwickshire is already one of the most popular start up destinations in the country, with some 24,000 new businesses commencing in 2017. Many are small – three-quarters of businesses in Britain employ only the business owner.

“Statistics show that two-thirds of business start-ups fail often because their product or service wasn’t good enough, or there simply wasn’t a big enough market.

“Crucially however another third fail because of lack of preparation or knowledge. They have a viable idea, there is a market for their product or service, but they fail to make the most of the opportunity through lack of preparation, planning and knowledge.

“That’s a terrible waste and a lot of heartache. We wanted to address the business failure rate and the CW Entrepreneur’s Toolkit is a very good knowledge tool that makes people aware of what is required for a successful business and the processes to follow.

“The toolkit can be used by anyone with a passion for business, including young people who are either studying for or have completed their A Levels and are looking to start their own venture. They could be doing anything from setting up a mobile beauty business to producing computer games or innovative engineering – they will all find out there is more to a business than a good idea.”

The CW Entrepreneur’s Toolkit costs £399 (inc VAT) for the first year’s subscription.

Find out more here: http://entrepreneurkit.co.uk