YOUNG PEMBROKESHIRE ENTREPRENEUR BACKS PRINCE’S TRUST CAMPAIGN TO BOOST YOUTH ENTERPRISE

A young entrepreneur from Pembrokeshire is backing a new campaign from youth charity The Prince’s Trust and NatWest to encourage unemployed young people to start-up in business.

Steffan Lemke-Elms is one of 492 young people in Wales who has received help from the charity to set up their own business in the last 10 years. In Wales, Health & Beauty was the most popular sector for young Prince’s Trust start-ups, closely followed by Transport & Motoring and Clothing & Textiles businesses.

Steffan, 24, established his recycling business Festival Reboot in 2011 after he discovered 4,000 leftover wellies while working as a litter picker at Glastonbury Festival. Determined not to see the boots thrown into landfill, Steffan brought them home and began to experiment with the recycled rubber. He made bracelets and festival drinks holders in a static caravan in his parent’s garden and began selling them on small, local scale. Festival Reboot has since moved on to produce notepads, wallets, handbags and phone covers. When he attracted the interest of wholesale buyers, Steffan realised he could turn his hobby into a business, but he didn’t know where to start.

He said, “The help from The Prince’s Trust was much more than the low-interest loan. My business mentor, who I am still in contact with today, was so important and helped me to get to grips with all the different aspects of entrepreneurship. They also gave me guidance and helped me to iron out the creases in the business.”

Steffan is passionate about the environment and social development and Festival Reboot goes far beyond cutting up old wellies. Steffan began putting all the full pairs of boots to one side and has been working in partnership with the Small Steps Project which provides footwear, emergency aid and food to children and communities living on municipal rubbish dumps around the world.

He added, “Although Festival Reboot is a business, I also want to use it as a tool to initiate social change. The project was born out of me being angry about waste, and I’m determined to continue to channel that irritation into something positive.”

Looking to the future, Steffan plans to expand the enterprise to recycle other products left over at festivals such as tents and camping chairs. He is also passionate about encouraging young people to set up in business, and believes that young entrepreneurs are a crucial part of the future economy in Wales. Earlier this year, he became a Young Ambassador for The Prince’s Trust.

He says, “There are so many young people with passions in fashion, music, food & drink, doing social good – and these can all be turned into businesses. But I know that a lot of them face barriers and lack the confidence to take that first step. That’s why I’m backing the #MyBigIdea campaign by NatWest and The Prince’s Trust – to spread the word that there is support out there to help young people get their idea off the ground. Young, independent enterprise is not an impossible dream and as long as you have enthusiasm, The Trust can help you turn your idea into a sustainable business.”

In light of stagnant youth unemployment figures over the last 12 months, of which 723,000 young people across the UK are still struggling to find a job, The Prince’s Trust is urging more young people to seek support and consider setting up their own business to break out of unemployment. Currently, nearly one in five young people in Wales (19%) are struggling to find work.

Lesley Kirkpatrick, Director for The Prince’s Trust Cymru said: “Young people have skills and talent that are vital to the economy and, in the last ten years, The Trust has supported over 490 young people in Wales looking to solve their own unemployment via our Enterprise programme. All too often, young people have difficulties to overcome but given the right support – such as our low interest loans, business mentors and ongoing advice – we can support them to succeed and thrive in business.”

The Enterprise Programme has been helping young people start up in business since 1983 and has supported more than 80,000 new ventures to date thanks to support from a range of funders such as NatWest. Well known businesses which began with help from The Trust include household names Dynamo and kids suitcase business Trunki.

Thom Kenrick at NatWest, which is the biggest corporate funder of Enterprise, said: “Long-term joblessness needn’t be a barrier to becoming your own boss so long as you have an idea and a will to succeed. Through developing a business, young people can put unemployment firmly behind them and look forward to a brighter future.”

Youth charity The Prince’s Trust helps change young lives. It works with 13 to 30-year-olds who have struggled at school, have been in care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law. Three in four young people helped by The Prince’s Trust move into work, training or education.