growing a community of young entrepreneursVirgin Media Pioneers

Max St. John, Lead Consultant Non-Profit and Public Sector

01273 764 023 | max.stjohn@nixonmcinnes.co.uk

16th July 2010

Max @maxwellinever

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Entrepreneurs: well-off university graduates who create innovative tech companies…?

Entrepreneurs: mums, second career-ers, recently unemployed, young people from deprived areas.

Enterprise UK: charitable organisation aiming to support these groups and grow entrepreneurship in the UK.

Partnering with Virgin Media, targeting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Online community platform, centred around video blogging and social networking – generating peer support and providing guidance.

Currently supports 800 young budding entrepreneurs, who have made over 12,100 connections, and created 540 videos

Measuring success of the project by the social capital generated, quantitative and qualitative – but this is what success looks like.

Key take-aways

_ online communities have a part to play connecting society and supporting the UK’s economy.

_ corporate partnerships are powerful.

_ measure the success of your community; understand if it’s working; help retain investment.

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