Enterprising project win for The Bigger Boat

The Enterprise Team offers guidance for students and graduates who need help to successfully launch their own start-up, pursue self-employment or become a freelancer. In particular, the service provides business-focused workshops on-site, which they want to make more appealing and relevant for the many modern-day employability options now available, to attract a much wider audience.

Following a competitive pitch win in April 2019, The Bigger Boat has been instructed to design a series of new-look, advice-led, engaging sessions, which cover key career kick-off skills – including branding, business finance and marketing.

Doug Main, creative director – alongside Huddersfield alumni, account manager Grace Lenihan – will lead on setting up the interactive project, to ensure it is ready for launch in the build-up to Fresher’s Week this September.

Doug said: “Being a start-up ourselves, we’re cut from the same cloth, so feel we’re in a really strong position to be able to tailor a creative way to offer the crucial and useful guidance that people need – and answer the questions they might be struggling with when going it alone.

“This project will be a great way for us to form even stronger bonds with the local economy, and we always love working with those who share the same values as us – which The Enterprise Team does in spades. We are looking forward to seeing how these workshops help the university’s talent become successful, sustainable and sought-after entrepreneurs.”

Philip Clegg, head of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, from The Enterprise Team, added: “We’ve been able to gain a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ perspective from The Bigger Boat in terms of how we approach such a challenge, and successfully change direction, focus and style – which could make a huge difference to our target market.

“Doug, Grace and the team truly understand what it means to set up a business, so when the opportunity came to work with them on this project, we jumped at the chance.”

Although this is the first time both will have worked together on an individual project, The Bigger Boat has been part of The Enterprise Team’s ‘Friends Of’ network for the past 12 months – offering support and advice to students and graduates on a range of creative disciplines.

A strong supporter of the local economy and corporate social responsibility projects, The Bigger Boat also runs its own free digital marketing and design-based workshops, to help upskill the region’s entrepreneurs.