Wenta help thousands start their own business

Wenta, the leading enterprise agency in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, have helped thousands of local people to start up new businesses across the counties over the last three years.

Out of 4444 clients seen by the Wenta Advisory team through a government initiative to get people back into employment by exploring the opportunities of self-employment, over 50% ended up trading for the test period of 26 weeks. An incredible 79% of these people continued to trade after this period.

The help given by Wenta also made a huge impact on the financial support that these people have needed. Over £1 million of Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) was saved as a result of these people starting their own businesses. This saving rises to over £3 million when you allow for the businesses that were still trading after 6 months.

Peter Cabon, Executive Director of Wenta, commented:

“Wenta are very proud of these results that we’ve achieved in supporting local people to start their own business but this isn’t just about the savings made on JSA, we have seen some fabulous new businesses launch as a result of the support and encouragement we were able to give them. We have examples of people who were unemployed for 15 months but have gone on to not only start their own business but to now employ 8 people in their local area too.”

If you would like to learn more about the advisory support Wenta are able to give to start-up businesses then please visit www.wenta.co.uk/business-advice

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Notes for Editor

For more information contact:

Jennifer Dong - Marketing Coordinator

Wenta

The Wenta Business Centre

Colne Way

Watford

Herts

WD24 7ND

Tel: 01923 691 370

Email: jenniferdong@wenta.co.uk

Web: www.wenta.co.uk

• Wenta was founded in 1983 to encourage business start-ups and to support small businesses in South and West Hertfordshire. The agency is independently funded through the ownership and management of its three business centres in Enfield, Watford and Potters Bar and management of two further centres in Stevenage. These business centres comprise workshops and offices with a combined space of over 100,000 square feet, let on monthly licence terms to small businesses. Wenta also attract funding from a number of public sector organisations including Job Centre Plus, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Regional Growth Fund (RGF) as well as a number of local authorities in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Wenta is now the largest enterprise agency in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and is the second largest in the Eastern region.

• Wenta run a number of programmes aimed at inspiring young people and giving them the confidence to make their ideas happen. Wenta’s education team work with local schools, colleges and universities to promote enterprise and entrepreneurship.

• Wenta’s advisory team work in partnership with organisations such as The Prince’s Trust and Job Centre Plus to provide business advice and support to start-up, new and existing businesses across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Services include: one-to-one general business advice; training and skills development courses; specialist advice including Tax, Legal and IT; and online support via our business advice portal, My Incubator Ventures.

• Wenta also run a series of business incubation centres under the ‘My Incubator’ brand located at The Business & Technology Centre in Stevenage, Basepoint in Luton, The Wenta Business Centre in Watford, The Enterprise Centre in Potters Bar, Hertford Regional College in Ware and the Bedford i-lab. These centres are designed to help entrepreneurs at their starting point and create successful businesses. My Incubator offer start-ups a work station for 3 months free of charge on the proviso that they work with our onsite advisory team to ensure that they are ready to sell their product or service, raise money or become investor ready and importantly connect them with other individuals and businesses to network.


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About Wenta

Wenta are the leading Enterprise Agency in Herts and Beds offering Business Advice, Office/Workshop space and Education & Training programmes. T: 0845 371 0891