The Hatchery Launch
16th April 2009
This month saw the exciting launch of The Hatchery, a rent free hot-desk work space facility for student and graduate businesses, developed by The Student Enterprise Programme at London Metropolitan University.
Guest speaker James Cleverly, The Mayor’s Ambassador for Youth launched the designated workspace for London entrepreneurs, based in the Accelerator, London Met’s specialist business incubator in Shoreditch at the heart of London's ICT and digital media industry.
The Hatchery stimulates innovation and enterprise by supporting young entrepreneurs to develop an idea and kick-start a business. The facility is ‘much more than an office’ with services such as; business consults, support services, access to investor and market networks, a full-time, hands on management team and free access to workshops and seminars.
Guests were welcomed with a wine reception and then navigated through the different areas of The Student Enterprise Programme, including The Hatchery, The Business Plan Competition and The Ideas Factory, two London Met competitions designed to inspire entrepreneurism, as well as the Knowledge East Enterprise Network (KEEN) and the London Innovation Placement Programme (LIPP). The evening offered the opportunity to interact and network with fellow entrepreneurs, start-ups & business experts.
James Cleverly, whose priorities cover building on the excellent work already being undertaken by the private, public and voluntary sectors to help young people harness their talents, complimented the new facility: ‘The Hatchery is a fantastic way of turning the ideas of young Londoners into businesses. The passion shown by both the staff and young entrepreneurs is exactly what we need to help lift London out of this downturn and keep it as the world's leading business city’.