Lancashire has a strong enterprising spirit according to a local entrepreneur who runs four successful businesses in Preston.
Christine Appleby, who has been running businesses in theatre education, film, TV, casting and theatre for the last 25 years, was at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) to speak to budding entrepreneurs as part of the University’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) activities. She was on campus to discuss the art of freelancing with local business people.
She said: “More and more SMEs are being set up in Lancashire and it’s important that we support them. Many people looking to make it on their own are stepping into their second careers so they need to utilise the transferable skills they have. I’ve seen a lot of changes throughout my career, funding opportunities come and go and you have to ride the storm.
“We need to keep Lancashire’s growth mentality and not lose talent to London and other cities. That’s why it’s important that universities like UCLan link students with local businesses so we can make sure the right skills are picked up on our doorstep.”
Christine’s ‘Art of Freelancing’ workshop attracted more than 100 people and was one of several events run by the University’s enterprise support programme, Propeller, as part of GEW.
Propeller business advisor and mentor Lateef Badat commented: “It is an honour to work with Christine. She brings a wealth of experience of working both in the UK and internationally that she is happy to share with entrepreneurs at the beginning of their careers. The University has a fantastic record of supporting news businesses and is in fact the top University in the UK for graduate start-ups trading successfully after three years according to the latest Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction (HE BCI) survey. We’re very proud of this and continue to tap into the enterprising spirit that Christine talked about.”
Talking about being an entrepreneur, Christine added: “I absolutely love it. I enjoy the freedom, it keeps me motivated and makes me jump out of bed in the morning.”
GEW is the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship and ideas.
