Member Article

Young Enterprise gives students a reality check

Young Enterprise North East (YENE) has been giving young people a reality check for this year’s Enterprise Week - they are the first enterprise education initiative to call “time out” on a programme and give their students a one-off master class in surviving the credit crunch.

The event was held at Newcastle University for students who are already running their own test company as part of YENE’s Graduate and Company Programmes. The seminar provided students with advice on how they should adjust their business strategy to fit the current climate.

Speakers included Tony Mann who runs his own property developing business, The Oceana Group who talked about how his company is surviving and planning ahead in the current climate, and Mark Webster partner and financial service expert at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

YENE believe that educating the students on the current climate is crucial to ensure their businesses are sustainable.

Catherine Marchant, chief executive of YENE said: “Providing young people with the key skills to running a business is what we strive to do and it is crucial that we adapt our programme to fit the current economic climate.

“The speakers at the event are well respected professionals in the finance and business industry and we are extremely grateful that they are prepared to give up their time to support the students.”

Mark Webster said: “The credit crunch is putting a huge strain on businesses at the moment however there are ways to try and reduce the impact that it has on a company. “As most of the students in the graduate programme are fairly new to running a business I feel it is vital that business figures around the region step up and support them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .