Entrepreneurial Spark – the UK’s biggest free business accelerator, offering mentoring, office space and more to some of the country’s most up and coming entrepreneurs – has released its latest impact report highlighting impressive success.
“These figures show how it is significantly benefiting the Bristol economy”
This success has been across the country, but the entrepreneurs at the Bristol hub alone managed to create 457 jobs in the region during 2016.
Matt West (pictured left), NatWest’s entrepreneur development manager who oversees the Bristol hub, says: “Not only is the Entrepreneurial Spark programme making a real difference to the start-ups and growing businesses who take part, but these figures show how it is significantly benefiting the Bristol economy too. The city has a vibrant and supportive business network and Entrepreneurial Spark has fast become an integral part of that and will continue to be so.”
“[Entrepreneurial Spark] has made me more ambitious, forward thinking, and opened my eyes to having a team around me”
An interview with Bristol hub startup Winbox shows off the individual success being achieved at Entrepreneurial Spark, with its turnover tripling from £3,000 a month to £10,000 in one year. Its founder Marc Woodland explains: “When I joined I didn’t see myself as an entrepreneur, but since joining I realised I can change things through my actions.
“It’s made me more ambitious, forward thinking, and opened my eyes to having a team around me. In many aspects it’s opened up the entrepreneur within me.”
The year also saw sub-sea robotics startup Rovco‘s Founder, Brian Allen (pictured right), win Entrepreneurial Spark’s ‘Entrepreneur of the moment’ award, as well as take part in a collaborative event with TechSPARK’s meetup group that brought together entrepreneurs for a morning of inspirational talks, advice and networking from across the South West tech cluster.
Opportunities in the thousands
2016 saw the launch of Entrepreneurial Spark’s brand new lean programme, which it’s hoped will support thousands more entrepreneurs across the country.
The new programme includes an intensive 3-month ‘sprint’ which kicks off with a bootcamp and is delivered largely via remote services such as Skype and online portals. Entrepreneurs then have the opportunity to follow this up with a 6-month ‘growth’ programme.
Read the full Entrepreneurial Spark Impact Report 2017 here. Find out more about the entrepreneur programmes on the Entrepreneurial Spark website. For more information and to stay up-to-date on the incubator’s latest news, follow them on Twitter here: @ESparkGlobal.
