The King’s Trust rolls out support for youth entrepreneurship in partnership with LDC
Youth charity The King’s Trust has today announced the South West roll-out of Business Advance, a programme designed and developed in partnership with LDC, to help young entrepreneurs sustain and grow their businesses through the first three years of trading.
Business Advance is an extension of The King’s Trust’s Enterprise programme, which helps young people from all walks of life, including disadvantaged communities, to launch their own businesses by equipping them with the confidence, skills and funding they need to do so.
It is a comprehensive package of support designed to increase the help available to young entrepreneurs as they navigate the early years of running their business, and provides access to a designated mentor, structured business reviews to track progress against targets and ambition, workshops and networking opportunities.
The South West roll-out of Business Advance follows a successful pilot in the Midlands, in which more than 100 young people took part, with 90 per cent confirming it helped to increase their business confidence.
It will help young entrepreneurs like Plymouth-based Brandon Hulcoop to grow their business. In 2023, Brandon launched his braille product manufacturing service, All Things Dotty, with support of The King’s Trust. Brandon’s business was inspired by the prospect of making life easier for those with visual impairments. In addition to greetings cards, he has expanded his braille range to include colouring books, boardgames and online tuition. He has also started creating braille menus for cafes and restaurants, and has petitioned the government to introduce legislation that requires all hospitality venues to have braille menus.
Commenting on the launch of Business Advance, Brandon said: “The Enterprise programme taught me how to create a proper business plan and helped me feel far more comfortable with business finance and tax. The King’s Trust modified the course materials so that I could access them and wouldn’t feel left out, and they’ve helped me to turn my life around. This business gives me a routine and a real sense of purpose, and I’m making a genuine difference to people’s lives. The additional support young entrepreneurs like me will get through Business Advance will make a real difference as we take our companies to the next level.”
LDC first partnered with The King’s Trust in 2019 to support the Enterprise programme and has so far helped more than 4,400 young people to turn their dreams into reality. Business Advance is funded through the multi-million-pound partnership and has been created with the support of an advisory board consisting of LDC’s employees.
Dewi Hughes, Partner and Head of South West and Wales at LDC said: “Young entrepreneurs play a vital role in the economy, both here in the South West and across the UK. They inject fresh ideas and perspectives into the market, create job opportunities and help to drive economic growth. To help them grow and sustain their businesses, it’s important that we give them the tools, skills and funding to achieve this, and being able to extend Business Advance to help young entrepreneurs across the South West is something we’re incredibly proud of.
“At LDC, we have more than 40 years of experience in helping management teams across the UK to drive growth and realise their ambitions, and our partnership with The King’s Trust is an important part of extending that commitment to young entrepreneurs from different backgrounds.”
Jonathan Townsend, UK Chief Executive of The King’s Trust, added: “Since 1983, we’ve helped more than 91,000 young people to start their own businesses and the UK-wide roll-out of Business Advance takes the support we can offer even further. It’s a flexible, broad-ranging programme that will help young entrepreneurs to go on and grow their businesses in those crucial early years after launching.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without the support and expertise of LDC. They are one of our biggest supporters at The King’s Trust and together we’re excited to help more young entrepreneurs to maximise the potential of their businesses.”
LDC is the leading supporter of The King’s Trust Enterprise programme and its partnership is designed to inspire the next generation of UK entrepreneurs. It has contributed towards a more diverse group of future business leaders, as a quarter of the young entrepreneurs supported to-date are from ethnic minority backgrounds and more than half are female.
