Following the success of last year’s initiative, Cotswold Fayre has announced that its start-up support scheme, Cotswold Collaborates, will run again this year.
The initiative aims to support young fine food entrepreneurs aged 16-24 who are looking for help with their business.
Last year’s scheme was won by Ben Nichols, founder of fruit smoothie company, So Smoothies. Ben said: “Winning Cotswold Collaborates has been significant in taking my business to the next level.
“The advice and mentoring support from Paul Hargreaves at Cotswold Fayre, has been incredibly helpful and in the past few months I have learnt a lot from his expertise in the industry. When I applied for the scheme last year distribution was a huge problem for us, due to the nature of the product, however, Paul has helped me to improve this significantly in just a short period of time.
“Additionally, the cash award has been invested directly into new equipment for the business premises, helping to improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process.”
Paul Hargreaves, Managing Director of Cotswold Fayre added: “It has been incredibly rewarding to work with Ben since he won the Cotswold Collaborates initiative in September. His dedication to the business is a true testament to the high standard of young fine food entrepreneurs coming into the industry.”
This year, the winning applicant will again receive £1000 to help fund their business plan as well as mentoring from Paul Hargreaves, to help progress their business. In addition, the applicant will also have the opportunity to work with Cotswold Fayre’s in-house designer to help develop strong branding and packaging.
Paul continued: “We are very excited to run Cotswold Collaborates for a second year. The launch of the scheme saw a fantastic response from young fine food entrepreneurs and I am confident that the calibre of entries this year will be just as high.”
Applications will be open on 01 March 2014 and close on 30 June 2014. The application form can be found on “www.cotswoldfayre.co.uk”:www.cotswoldfayre.co.uk