Youngtrepreneur Challenge to Support Lincolnshire’s Future Business Leaders

The Lincolnshire Youngtrepreneur Challenge (LYC) aims to promote and develop entrepreneurial spirit among students from diverse educational backgrounds in further education (FE) throughout the county.

Members of the University’s Student Enterprise team will visit eight participating colleges to deliver an “Entrepreneurship Day”, to support students with generating ideas, developing a sustainable business, and helping them devise a business pitch.

From this, one team from each college will be selected to compete in a final, held at the University’s Brayford Pool Campus. Each finalist team will deliver their business pitch to a panel of experts, and the winning team will be awarded prizes including a goodie bag and vouchers.

Building on the successes of the University’s Swan’s Den competition, which challenged University students to pitch a business idea for the chance to be awarded a grant of up to £5,000. The process allowed students to gain employability skills such as commercial awareness, organisation and communication.

Expanding on the core ideas of Swan’s Den, the LYC scheme will focus exclusively on FE students, bringing 250 students from eight colleges across Lincolnshire to take part in the inaugural competition from Lincoln College, Boston College, Riseholme College, Stamford College, Grantham College, North Lindsey College, John Leggott College, and Grimsby Institute.

Reece Leggett, Student Enterprise Manager, commented: “The Lincolnshire Youngtrepreneur Challenge is a fantastic opportunity for students to explore the world of business ownership. We are thrilled to expand the competition to include further education students and look forward to seeing the innovative ideas they bring to the table.”

Mark Locking, Principal & CEO of Lincoln College Group, added: “Lincoln College is proud to be supporting the University of Lincoln’s Student Enterprise team on their Lincolnshire Youngtrepreneur Challenge (LYC). The knowledge and skills gained through programmes such as the LYC will benefit our budding entrepreneurs if they choose to continue on the self-employment journey.

Furthermore, the transferable nature of these skills will also make them more agile, creative, and innovative as students and employees in Lincolnshire. As one of our key partners in the region, we are thrilled to be developing our relationship with the University, and we wish all students the best of the luck in the competition.”

Research revealed that the University is ranked in the UK top 10 for supporting graduate start-ups, the University of Lincoln has developed a reputation as a hub for entrepreneurship and business innovation. The LYC initiative aims to inspire participants to consider self-employment as a genuine career path, inspiring them to develop the skills and knowledge to begin their entrepreneurial journey as well as raising awareness on the University of Lincoln’s outstanding learning opportunities and commitment to transforming lives and communities.

For more information about the event, please contact Dominick McOmish dmcomish@lincoln.ac.uk.