Welcome to Seven Hills

Case Studies

 

Seven Hills was the driving force behind the recent Virgin Media Pioneers campaign to promote youth entrepreneurship in the UK. Supported by Sir Richard Branson, Control Shift: The Rise of Young Entrepreneurs asked a simple question: 'What changes would improve the prospects of young entrepreneurs?'

The campaign launched with a lively panel discussion at MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival in Sheffield, with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP joining three high profile entrepreneurs and three Virgin Media Pioneers to discuss the question. With an audience of aspiring and established entrepreneurs, the session was a highlight of the Festival, generating significant media coverage and providing the first set of evidence for the final report.

In the next phase of the campaign, three Virgin Media Pioneers were each matched up with a successful entrepreneur – Joe Cohen, founder & CEO of Seatwave, Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, founder & CEO of The Black Farmer and Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO of Masala Masala - for an eight-week mentoring programme to give them the support they need to prosper. Over the course of the campaign, Seven Hills delivered extensive media coverage of the mentoring scheme in publications including the Sunday Times, the Mail on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent and a wide range of business and specialist media on the subject of youth enterprise and youth unemployment.

Seven Hills also organised and led a focus group with key stakeholders in youth entrepreneurship, as well as the three Virgin Media Pioneers. Alongside online feedback from the Pioneer community, this focus group provided a series of powerful recommendations that were presented in a report that was launched at the Hub Westminster during Global Entrepreneurship Week in November.

The groundbreaking Control Shift report provided a starting point for ongoing discussions with Government departments including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and No 10. One recommendation that the Government create a ‘Youth Investment Fund’ to provide loans to school leavers with a good business plan was recently described by the Prime Minister as a ‘brilliant idea’ and is one that will be pursued in 2012.