The New Enterprise Competition is run by the Basecamp Enterprise team and awards funding for businesses, social enterprises and charities. It comprises of three stages over the year; the second stage-Development awards start-ups with up to £1,000 to go towards pushing your business to the next level.
Historically, funding has gone to start-ups who are building a prototype, developing a website and investing in materials and much more.
This year may seem uncertain but certainly comes with lots of possibilities, so why not take that business idea you had over the first lockdown to the next level?!
Want to find out more? Over the next few weeks we’ll be catching up with last years Development winners.
Precious Plastic Dunkerque
Could you sum up your start-up in a Tweet?
Precious Plastic Dunkerque is a Social Enterprise being developed to support displaced people in Dunkerque. Using plastic waste collected from informal camps, we will produce new items; to be sold, to support those sleeping rough and to provide community workshops.
How did you find the application process for the competition?
I found the application process very self-explanatory. All the questions in the written application were clear and it was appreciated that there was no word limit so
that we could go fully into detail on some subjects and elements of the enterprise. It was great having the opportunity to pitch the project, as this was a chance to answer questions and provide information that may not have been clear in the written application.
Has any other support helped you develop your start-up?
The Basecamp Enterprise team have been able to support us in the application process by giving advice and feedback when submitting a final application. Receiving advice before starting the application was really helpful to understand where we needed to explain things better and what needed to be developed further to make our application stronger. Presenting our start-up to the Basecamp Enterprise Team was hugely motivating as they could hear more about what we are doing, could understand the impact and potential we could have. Feeling their enthusiasm towards our project and ideas was really empowering.
What difference has the New Enterprise Competition (NEC) funding made to your start-up?
The NEC funding will allow our community workshop space to become a reality. To find additional funds, we will be doing crowdfunding, but the funding from the NEC takes some pressure off this and also means that we definitely have enough funds to purchase essential items that will be particularly difficult to crowdfund for. We are excited that this funding will mean that all elements of our enterprise can start, and that we can start working towards developing products that can allow us to become financially self-sustaining.
The Development stage of the competition is now open for applications until 1 March 2021. If you would like to discuss your start-up or ideas beforehand you can book an appointment with the friendly team.
Due to the current situation, pitching for the competition will be taking place online.