Budding entrepreneurs looking for help and advice from business leaders can sign-up for a funded place at start-up centre Welsh ICE.
The Welsh Innovation Centre for Enterprise (ICE), based at the former offices of National Britannia at Caerphilly Business Park, provides shared office space for start-ups and also provides access to business advice from a team of advisors.
Charity the Fairwood Trust is offering ten fully-funded places for one year at the centre.
Charles Middleton, Fairwood Trust director, said: “To have had the support, guidance and mentorship that Welsh ICE provides would have been heaven when I first started in business 40 years ago.
“It is the learning that comes with that process that is really important to the Trust – and the goal ultimately is to create more jobs, have more people working and make more money for the economy of Wales.”
The Trust has entered an agreement with Welsh ICE to fund ten new enterprises at Welsh ICE a bursary worth £3,000 to each one. Three have signed up so far.
Family support service firm Smooth Starts, student exchange outlet Recyclabook and textiles company Cup of Daisies have already moved into Welsh ICE thanks to the Fairwood Trust funding.
Oana Balan, 24, from Hengoed, came up with the idea for Cup of Daisies when she started making silk scarves for charity whilst studying costume design at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Now she sells them in a Cardiff boutique and spends up to three days a week at ICE, where she is supported in creating a business plan and identifying new markets.
She said: “To have people around you that appreciate and believe in your project is just amazing, they have already decided you are going to make it and that goes a long way when you are working alone. It’s such an inspiring place to be.”
Cup of Daisies donates 10% of each scarf sale to charity Merlin, which delivers healthcare to people caught up in natural and man-made disasters.
The aim of Welsh ICE is to create a hotbed of start-ups which will go on to create high-quality jobs for the Caerphilly area.
Centre director Gareth Iwan Jones said: “The Fairwood Trust enterprise bursary allows those with a business idea to get out of their back bedroom and into an environment with others that can help them. We are looking for a wide range of entrepreneurs to apply, especially those with links to the wider community.”
Those providing mentoring for new entrepreneurs at ICE also include RBS and Lloyds TSB banks, accountancy firm, Broomfield & Alexander, IT firm Solviq, patent experts at Wynne-Jones IP and insurance firm Thomas Carroll Group.
ICE has space for up to 150 businesses and provides an on-site restaurant, day nursery and hotel.
Social spaces, equipped for music and games, are also provided to encourage entrepreneurs to mix and share ideas.
For information on how to apply visit www.welshice.org/awards