Two new businesses have jointly won the 2015 Beacon Bursary competition to encourage young people to become entrepreneurs.
Carmarthenshire County Council recognises the importance of stimulating entrepreneurship in the county and runs the Beacon Bursary competition in partnership with Coleg Sir Gâr and University of Wales Trinity St David.
The competition is open to entrepreneurs among higher education students studying in Carmarthenshire. The winners of the Beacon Bursary are offered free office space within the Beacon, Centre for Enterprise in Dafen, Llanelli, along with a cash prize and mentoring support, so that they can develop their businesses.
This years’ Beacon Bursary was won by two business start ups, John and Mathew Hennah of Rapid IT, along with Poppy Potter and Fran Hughes of the Women’s Workwear Company.
Executive board member for regeneration and leisure Cllr Meryl Gravell, who was on the judging panel, said: “Both business proposals were presented very well and were deserving winners. We are all very excited to see how they progress and will do our best to help them develop their ideas.”
Poppy Porter and Fran Hughes want to set up an online shop, called Women’s Workwear Company, selling workwear and personal protective equipment for women.
They are both currently studying traditional construction skills as part of the Heritage Bursary Scheme in the Tywi Centre, Llandeilo and have identified a gap in the market as current choices are mainly designed for men and are therefore ill fitting, uncomfortable and not fit for purpose.
In the long term they aim to set up a manufacturing business to design and produce their own range of women’s workwear. They have won £1,000 through the Beacon Bursary to help them get on their way.
John and Matthew Hennah aim to set up Rapid IT Ltd, an ICT management, maintenance and support business, which will offer a variety of specialist and innovative IT services including an ‘early warning’ system, data recovery, network installation, telephony and sale of IT consumables.
John and Matthew have between them over 13 years experience in the IT sector and have identified several gaps in the market for their services. They have won 12 months free office space in the Beacon Centre for Enterprise.
The winners received their certificate at the prestigious Coleg Sir Gâr graduation ceremony.
For more information on the Beacon Bursary and the competition visit http://www.beacon-enterprise.co.uk/beacon-bursary
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