REPORT: Test Town Walthamstow (2016)

Walthamstow FINAL EVALUATION REPORT 2016

1. PROJECT SUMMARY

London Sustainability Exchange (LSx) received £3,000 funding from Carnegie UK Trust to deliver ‘TestTown’ in Walthamstow

TestTown is the biggest accelerator programme for young entrepreneurs looking to revitalise town centres.

Over 50 individuals were trained and mentored in business development and product skills.

“TestTown is an encouraging initiative that discovers young local entrepreneurs. Candidates found their inner businessperson and delivered some great ideas. The dynamic individuals are on their way to help build a prosperous community.”

Bora Kurti, Financial expert & panel judge

72% of participants ‘felt confident’ with developing their business idea following our training activity

A panel of 8 specialists with skills in finance, business start up, project management and creativity advised the budding entrepreneurs.

“It really gives you a great insight into being a green entrepreneur and has taught me that there is a niche in the recycling industry.” Ahmed Adowa, Participant

“I was impressed by the quality, innovation and imagination that the young people showed in developing their sustainable product ideas. There were a few products that could ‘easily’ be released to the market and with the correct support have potential for success.”

Simon Fordham, Business expert & panel judge

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2. Executive Summary Following a successful application to the Carnegie UK Trust, LSx were awarded £3,000 to work with young green entrepreneurs in Walthamstow. This project sought to:  

Promote youth social action, increase positive aspirations, work-readiness and community cohesion in Waltham Forest by training young people to develop teams of ‘green entrepreneurs’ and waste enterprises Work with young people to develop green enterprises that respond to local needs working with existing entrepreneurs, business, local stakeholders and experts.

The project was successful in meeting aims, with     

50 individuals trained and mentored in business development and product skills, 72% of participants reporting ‘confidence’ in developing their business idea following our training activity improving their workability skills.

Support and mentoring from 8 specialists and local businesses 11,834 received information through Twitter At least 3 enterprises were further developed and established, inspiring others.

Key findings 1. TestTown Walthamstow reflected previous findings of more deprived areas benefiting from additional assistance on enterprise.

2. Working in teams allowed participants to support and learn from each other, develop new ideas, friendships and project. This was particularly pronounced in school groups, and ultimately with the winning couple. It developed a social norm around enterprise.

3. Linking young people with existing entrepreneurs and local businesses provided young people with inspiration and support – in some ways ‘making it real’ as oppose to a class room exercise.

4. Teaching young people about sustainability in the context of enterprise is a useful mechanism as it not only allows a practical engagement in the subject but can also help facilitate sustainable lifestyles.

Recommendations 1. Given that young people are less likely to have a job for life in today’s world the development of skills is fundamental to ensuring work readiness and is key to their future wellbeing.

2. Encourage young people to work in teams to tackle today and tomorrow’s problems.

3. Exposing young people to existing entrepreneurs, mentors and experts in sustainability alongside appropriate support mechanisms is essential in inspiring the next generation of green entrepreneurs.

4. Sustainability should be brought out of the classroom and engaged in through practical examples, such as enterprise. This will not only encourage sustainable lifestyles and choices but also help facilitate the transition to a sustainable future.

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3. WALTHAMSTOW TESTTOWN2015 This section provides and overview of the project stage by stage

3.1

Project Rationale

LSx has been working in some of London’s most deprived communities for many years. We have often found that fostering entrepreneurship has proven to be a strong mechanism to support empowerment, which leads to greater health and quality of life chances. An example of this has been our Well London project which was successful in improving cohesion. Our findings from this work chimed with that of Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, Director of Enterprise and Innovation at the University of Wales Global Academy in his paper ‘Can entrepreneurship be developed within deprived communities?’ 6th Jan 2012. The paper found that those living in the most deprived communities were less likely to be involved in early stage entrepreneurship. A key problem identified is the lack of suitable role models within deprived communities, due to a large extent by a lack of tradition of entrepreneurship. The report recommended: “This could be supported by the provision of training programmes to provide general enterprise skills which would not only help develop entrepreneurs but ensure that a greater number of the population are provided with the broad range of entrepreneurial skills suitable for working in local small firms”.

3.2

Project Design

Building on the success of our Green Entrepreneurs work model developed by LSx, a programme of activity and engagement was further developed.

July 2015 Task Group

February TestTown Final

3.3

Promotion & engagement

January 2016 Mentoring

October 2015 Activity

Mentoring

December 2015 Mentoring & Activity

Task Group

On 14th July a task group meeting was held with stakeholders from the local area. These included a local Councillor, interested organisations and budding green entrepreneurs. This allowed us to gain experience on how best to engage young people in the area as well as the activities that should be undertaken,

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3.4

Promotion and engagement

LSx used a multi faceted approach to further engage and promote TestTown at the start of the initiative to access participants and throughout (see more in Appendix A)       

Face to face meetings with established social enterprises, a youth charity and the job centre.

Information stalls – jobs fair, community fairs and college fairs.

Presentations - to green networking groups Press releases and articles which were of article local newspapers and magazines’ and on community websites.

Promotion at a local hospital radio station.

Promotion on the LSx website, twitter and facebook.

Letters to local businesses.

In the media - articles

“Walthamstow’s young green entrepreneurs in national competition” The Elist, page 7, September 2015

“Business Scheme” Waltham Forest News, 24 August 2015 “Walthamstow college students are to take part in Dragons Den style contest” Yellow Advertiser, 13 October 2015 “Waltham Forest College host Britain’s biggest town regeneration challenge” Waltham Forest College website

“Environmental Dragons’ Den-style business competition in Waltham Forest” The Guardian Waltham Forest “Environmental Dragons’ Den-style business competition in Waltham Forest” This is Local London

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3.5

Training Day - October nd

On Friday 2 October an all day training event was held at Waltham Forest College attended by 43 individuals. The training was provided by business specialist Colin Crooks, Tree Shepherd.

Forty-two participants were business students from Sir George Monoux College and Waltham Forest colleges. An additional 10 individuals (with varying levels of experience and idea development) were unable to attend the event but were provided with the materials and information.

Participants were trained in all aspects of business and developed their business plan including:  Sources of materials for their products  Market for the product  Establishing a customer base  Marketing  Financial and beak even points looking at viability  Preparation of a business pitch  Testing of their business idea We evaluated the event based on Carnegie UK Trust requirements. Our analysis showed the following:  Usefulness of the event: 75% of responses rated the event Good, Great or Excellent  Pace of the event: 71% of responses rated the event Good, Great or Excellent  Understanding: 94% of responses rated the event Good, Great or Excellent  Developed clear enterprise idea: Half of responses Agreed or Strongly Agreed (12% Strongly Agreed)  Motivated to take challenge: 72% Agreed or Strongly Agreed  Felt confident: 72% Agreed or Strongly Agreed  Learnt something new: 88% Agreed or Strongly Agreed

“It allowed me to be creative and work with new people. I have learned a lot and made new friends.”

Bilal Batukhail, Participant

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3.6

Mentoring

LSx provided the opportunity for participants to attend further training with local social enterprises Significant Seams and the Blackhorse Workshop.

3.7

Mentoring & ‘Dragon’s Den’ style event th

The morning of 4 December 2015 saw a mentoring session provided by Tree Shepherd to the participants who were taking their idea forward. Ideas and business plans were reviewed in time for the business pitch.

Walthamstow Final Winners 1st Place: Max Bainbridge and Abigail Booth both aged 24 with ‘Forest and Found’ http://www.forest-and-found.com/.

This company re-uses materials to create home wares and is currently looking to expand.

2nd Place: Ahmed Adow, aged 17, business student from Sir George Monoux College http://www.george-monoux.ac.uk/ with Recypouch’ – ipad and tablet covers made from 100% recycled materials.

3rd Place: Enrique Melin, aged 27, aspiring green entrepreneur ‘Earthsfreeverse’. Reusing wood to make kitchen chopping boards and upcycling furniture.

In the afternoon participants pitched to a panel of business experts who gave advice on ideas put forward and who decided who would go through to the TestTown Grand Final.

You can find a video of this event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1nzVjaEZck&feature=youtu.be

here:

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3.8 nd

Mentoring

On 22 January the three finalists were invited for further mentoring and advice provided by Tree Shepherd as part of our wider Green Entrepreneurs programme. At participant request this covered in particular marketing and the financial aspects.

“Thanks for inviting me to be part of the panel – It was great to be involved in this initiative to encourage and promote entrepreneurs with sustainable business ideas. I was very impressed with all of the ideas, which had been thought through and clearly presented. Good luck to Max and Abigail – what struck me as most impressive was their drive, passion and hard-working ethos, which stands them in good stead for long-term success” Ed Haydon, Business Expert and Panel Judge

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KEY FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Key findings 1. TestTown Walthamstow reflected previous findings of more deprived areas benefiting from additional assistance on enterprise.

2. Working in teams allowed participants to support and learn from each other, develop new ideas, friendships and project. This was particularly pronounced in school groups, and ultimately with the winning couple. It developed a social norm around enterprise.

3. Linking young people with existing entrepreneurs and local businesses provided young people with inspiration and support – in some ways ‘making it real’ as oppose to a class room exercise.

4. Teaching young people about sustainability in the context of enterprise is a useful mechanism as it not only allows a practical engagement in the subject but can also help facilitate sustainable lifestyles.

Recommendations  Given that young people are less likely to have a job for life in today’s world the development of skills is fundamental to ensuring work readiness and is key to their future wellbeing.  Encourage young people to work in teams to tackle today and tomorrow’s problems.  Exposing young people to existing entrepreneurs, mentors and experts in sustainability alongside appropriate support mechanisms is essential in inspiring the next generation of green entrepreneurs.  Sustainability should be brought out of the classroom and engaged in through practical examples, such as enterprise. This will not only encourage sustainable lifestyles and choices but also help facilitate the transition to a sustainable future. .

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APPENDIX A – News clippings Waltham Forest News, September 2015

The Elist, September 2015

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