Youth enterprise programme gets thumbs up

Graduate entrepreneurs are boosting the economy it was claimed this week.

The statement came from the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) which has just published the results of a study into the impact of its graduate programmes.

The organisation, which was set up six years ago, currently supports 3,550 graduate businesses, works with 90 universities and has received £2.25m in funding from organisations such as Barclays, Microsoft and HSBC.

 “Over 80% of new, growth companies are set up by graduates,” said Ian Robertson, chief executive of NCGE.

“At this critical time for our economy we need to improve the environment for wealth creation and build a closer, more productive relationship between business and universities.”

Jonathan Lloyd started Falling Pixel while studying at Portsmouth University in 2006 and has taken part in the NCGE’s Flying Start programme. His turnover has doubled year-on-year since launch and he’s predicting the same growth for the year ahead.

Lloyd received a £1,000 grant and visited the < w:st="on" region>USA< region/> as part of a fellowship programme where he met with Google’s chief executive Eric Schmidt.

He said: “I first found out about NCGE’s Flying Start Programme when I went along to a rally they were organising in Reading. There I got some fantastic start-up advice and help on developing a business plan to help get me going.”

Speaking about the programme, David Frost, director general of the BCC, said: "The impact figures and testimonials from graduates and universities speak for themselves - NGCE is a real success story."

For more information on the NCGE visit http://www.ngce.com/

© Crimson Business Ltd. 2010