A programme which offers ambitious entrepreneurs the chance to win a £25,000 investment for their business has gone live, with applications open until the end of November 2017.
The UK Steel Enterprise Y Accelerator 2017/18 programme aims to give individuals, teams or companies the chance to take their new business idea to the national or international market.
Open across all sectors, the programme will give successful applicants three months of free, intensive support to validate concepts, build a strong customer proposition and financial model and learn how to effectively communicate the value to customers and investors.
This will be followed by a unique opportunity to pitch to a range of investors for a chance to win £25,000 equity investment.
Mihaela Gruia, founder of Research Retold and past Y Accelerator winner, said: “I found the Y Accelerator to be an extremely useful experience because it gave me focus and dedicated space and time to work on developing the business.
“The Y Accelerator team were particularly helpful for brainstorming, critique, encouragement and developing my growth strategy.”
To be in with a chance of winning the expert, intensive business support and £25,000 investment, you must submit your application before the deadline of Thursday 30 November.
Ten successful applicants will be chosen to go through to the Y Accelerator and will be invited to an initial meeting to be held in December 2017. Successful applicants will commence on the Y Accelerator from January 2018.
The Y-Accelerator partnership is a collaboration between private and public sector organisations, including the SCR Growth Hub, the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Rotherham Investment and Development Office (RiDO) and entrepreneur in residence from Gripple Ltd.
For more information on Y Accelerator, telephone RiDO on 01709 331133 or email info@ridobusinesscentres.co.uk
To find out about other ways in which the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub can support your business, please contact the Gateway team on 03330 00 00 39 or send them an email.