Young Etruria entrepreneur launches social enterprise to inspire creative types

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Emeka Forbes, the 18-year-old who turned his love of photography into a business through Capturate.com has launched a social enterprise called 'Young Creatives'.

The new venture aims to help reduce youth unemployment rates in the midlands and inspire enterprise amongst young people.

The organisation is primarily designed to help young people with creative skills and talents to network and build key skills.

Emeka who studied at Newcastle College said: "I've always been quite lucky to find great opportunities when it comes to business but I know a lot of young people miss out on the chance to follow their real ambitions.

"I set up Young Creatives with the principle aim of bringing young people with creative skills together in order to inspire collaboration and also to help pass on some of the key skills I've learnt so far when it comes to starting a business or going into a career in the creative industry.

The teenager of Etruria added: "We're aiming to involve businesses and influential entrepreneurs from the creative sector to deliver highly targeted guidance and we're currently looking into delivering sessions to inspire entrepreneurship in local schools.

"There's a distinct lack of support for young people looking to go into the creative industry in schools right now. There are lessons on things like web design or photography but there's not much focus on enterprise or on how to develop the right connections to establish a career in any creative discipline. We want to change that."

The organisation recently received backing from national funding provider 'Unltd' and although early events will be based in Staffordshire, Forbes is aiming to expand the project to the rest of the midlands and eventually, the whole of the UK.

Following the development of close links with Newcastle-under-Lyme College, Young Creatives will host its first networking event on Wednesday 18th December at the College starting at 6pm.

David Matthews, Director of Learner Engagement and Partnerships at Newcastle-under-Lyme College, said: “Newcastle-under-Lyme College encourages enterprise opportunities for our students and within the local community. If you’re a young creative, the networking event at the College aims to inspire and guide you in the right direction to achieve your career goals.”

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Personal Reflections:

I really enjoyed this article because one of my aspiration is to be a photojournalist. And to see that a young man like Forbes who is just a year younger than me who has so much talent is able to set up his own social enterprise to help the like-minded is very inspiring for me. I hope I will be able to do something like that in the future, doing what I like and giving back to the society.

Since this article is just mentioning about the setting up of this new business venture, we cannot be sure if it will be successful like it claims to be "reduce youths unemployment rate in midland and inspire enterprise among the young". I think before the venture even begin, the "inspire" part of the venture is definitely out there because photography is popular among the youths and to be able to learn skills from the social enterprise is definitely a great opportunity and experience. But, the "reducing unemployment rate amongst the youth" may be a challenge because photography is a very easy skill to pick up and some professional or freelance photographers are already having trouble getting assignments let alone amateurs youth photographers trying to get employment. But it definitely will impart youths to have skill that can help them get employment in the future.

What I like about this article is that it also mentioned how the College is helping young social entrepreneurs like Forbes to set up his own social enterprise and also to receive funding from government. I think this is something Singapore and schools like Ngee Ann Polytechnic should work on although UK has a long history of supporting young social entrepreneurs while social enterprise concept has only recently been accepted by the public in Singapore. Even though the government has assured that there are grants for Singaporeans to use and set up their social enterprises, but the application procedures and selection criteria/eligibility to apply or to receive the grants makes it difficult for youths like us who aspire to set up social enterprise to go for it.

The Sentinel. (2013). Young Etruria entrepreneur launches social enterprise to inspire creative types. Retrieved December 19, 2013 from http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Young-entrepreneur-launches-social-enterprise/story-20344313-detail/story.html#ixzz2nw4mhQEH