Guiding Northumbria's entrepreneurs to success

Global professional services provider EY is offering its expertise for free to aspiring student and graduate entrepreneurs based in Northumbria University’s Incubator hub.

The knowledge-sharing agreement is part of an ongoing and successful collaboration between Northumbria and EY.

Through its Global Corporate Responsibility Programme ‘EY Ripples’, EY is offering pro-bono support to student and graduate start-ups at Innovation Northumbria: Incubator - a purpose-built office space providing state-of-the-art technology and connectivity, and a range of financial, legal and marketing support to start-ups.

As part of the agreement, EY will host regular seminars and masterclasses on a range of business topics and will be joining Northumbria’s November and March Enterprise Weekends, which will advise and guide students on their enterprise journey.

Harry Hawes, Operations Director at EY, said: “Supporting student entrepreneurs through the Incubator Hub at Northumbria University is a great opportunity for EY, we believe that growing local entrepreneurial talent is key to business success across the North East. This initiative gives both students and our EY people the chance to develop new skills through facilitated masterclasses and bootcamps, providing professional business advice. I look forward to continuing to grow our relationship with Northumbria University.”

Innovation and enterprise are at the heart of Northumbria’s learning experience, both with its teaching and through the support it offers to start-ups through the Student and Graduate Enterprise Service. Pioneering courses such as Entrepreneurial Business Management, where students run their own businesses, and the student-led consultancy service delivered on the Business Clinic programme, have also established Northumbria as a leader in entrepreneurial education.

Graham Baty, Head of Student and Graduate Enterprise at Northumbria University said: “Having access to free advice and guidance from leading business experts will be hugely beneficial to our students looking to develop entrepreneurial skills for future employment or seeking to launch their own venture, and the University is extremely grateful to EY for its support. Northumbria has regularly topped the UK university rankings for graduate start-ups based on turnover, and this latest development will further strengthen the help we can offer.”

For more information on Northumbria’s Incubator please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/incubator