New Entrepreneur Scholarships Success

A review of the £6 million per annum New Entrepreneur Scholarships (NES) programme has revealed it has helped 5,500 people living in the most deprived areas of England to start their own business successfully.

The programme, which has been running for six years, is designed to provide support to people from disadvantaged areas and backgrounds who have the ambition to start a business, but find it hard to get support and finance. 

Statistics from the independent evaluation of the scheme suggest that 59% of NES scholars were classed as unemployed or economically inactive at the start of the course. 

75% went on to start their own business within three months of completing the programme and survival rates are equally impressive.  94% are still trading after one year, 86% after three years and 76% after five years.

Funded by the Learning and Skills Council the scheme is managed by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, the Association of Business Schools and The Prince’s Trust.

If you calculate the per head spend of the NES programme it comes to about £6,500 per participant.  Which to me sounds like pretty good value for money.  With business survival rates that high and the additional benefit of taking people off social security, the payback begins to look pretty good too.

entrepreneurship | NES | NFEA | skills |