Historia

It’s never too late to do the thing you love. At Enterprise Junction, we work hand in hand with men and women over 50 - as well as other groups - to help them gain the practical skills and confidence they need to become self-employed or start their own business.

Going it alone can sound like an exciting prospect - the freedom to do things your way or to ensure that your fantastic idea for a business finally sees the light of day.

Yet for many people, the thought of taking that leap can be just too daunting. That’s particularly true for some older people, even though they may have invaluable skills and decades of experience behind them. It can also be the case for women who haven’t worked for long periods because of, say, family commitments – and for young people who haven’t yet been able to join the workforce since leaving school or university.

Our job is to convince all these groups that, not only have they not missed the boat, but that - with enough know-how and self-belief - they can make working solo a real success story!

Set up as a charity in 2018, we run two different programmes, offering highly practical, customised support and advice – all free of charge.

Our online self-employment programme is made up of three workshops which cover all aspects of starting a business from scratch, including essential areas such as legal, tax and sales and marketing. This is then followed by one-to-one mentoring sessions with Business Advisors and sometimes also Case Managers.

Everyone on the course is supported over a three-month period, with online workbooks to take them through the process step by step and create a watertight business plan, with all the right building blocks in place. Their progress is also monitored closely to help them stay on track.

Our new Self-Esteem Empowerment workshop is an intensive one or two-day programme, helping people understand what the internal brakes are that are stopping them from realising their potential and how they can overcome them.

The workshop uses a range of activities to help rebuild participants’ self-confidence and ability to set up by themselves, to match their passion and drive.

We know we’re filling a gap, from the feedback we’ve received:

“The workshops dispelled any myths I had about being self-employed. The course gives you all the information you need without being scary. It enables you to have the vision, but then to take the steps you want to take slowly, with all the right content and structure in place.”

“I was struggling a bit to think how I would unleash my business idea to others and what I found helpful was some of the ideas around researching the marketplace. The course also made me set a date in my own mind about when I was going to get going. A lot of business ideas, including my own, do tend to stay in the head for a long period of time without ever actually getting translated into action. It’s great that there are initiatives like this out there which are helping businesses and people to get back on their feet.”

“I’ve been waiting to start a nail business for a while, but obviously didn’t know the first thing about business, so doing this course has been amazing. It’s given me a lot more confidence to move forward. Obviously, the fear factor is there when you don’t know anything, but the trainer has been very calm and easy-going.”

We believe everyone deserves a second chance. Please give what you can to help us to support people over 50 in transforming their lives.

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