Leicester Start-Ups CIC was born out of an entrepreneurial itch. Starting your own business can be daunting, and lonely. Which is why Ben Ravilious started networking in the city in 2012.
From networking, he realised a lot of others had their own Start-up ideas. The problem was, this was all new, and so they found it difficult to get their idea off the ground.
The book Start Up Communities by Brad Feld detailed how an entrepreneurial community was set up in the heart of Boulder, Colorado, and is now one of the most successful Entrepreneurial cities in the U.S. Ben took inspiration from Boulder, and noted how a rising tide lifts all boats – by joining together and helping one another, businesses can grow at a much faster rate. The chances are, someone else has already been through the problem you are going through and can help you with it. This collaborative space is not a place where you sell your own business – it is a peer-network community that aims to truly help people, and will put Leicester on the map to be the best Entrepreneurial city in the U.K.
In the beginning, Ben hosted a monthly coffee shop meeting where locals could network. Experienced businesspeople spoke at these meetings, inspiring the community of Leicester who shared these interests. Since then, Leicester Start-Ups has grown so much that Ben and other founders now host a 6-week ‘Accelerator’ program, where participants who have a scalable and innovative idea learn how to begin their Start-Up journey, and learn valuable skills such as pitching to investors. Starting during Lockdown over Zoom, these Accelerators have become so popular that they are currently organising their third cohort.
Ben is hoping that the goodwill that has been shown from local entrepreneurs will create an entrepreneurial cycle. Entrepreneurs who are currently being mentored will turn into the mentors, creating home-grown companies, and will cement Leicester as one of the best cities in the U.K. to start and grow a business, further attracting investment and talent from other cities. Leicester is already one of the best places in the UK to start a business (DMU), boasting higher than average survival rates, excellent geographical connectivity, access to talent, and low cost of living. According to Barclays’ SME Growth Factors Index, Leicester is the second-best city in the UK in which to start a business . Ben has even managed to create a top-of-the-line mentoring site where new start-ups can contact founders who are in a similar line of business to receive help and information on how to better their business. This can be found here: https://leicesterstartups.helpengine.co/