A group of students at the City of Bath College have been given the opportunity to start their own media companies.
The College sees the development of employability skills as essential to learners’ futures and the media department has come up with a project where students set up their own companies which they will run out of the College as part of their course.
Having worked on their business plans for start-up media businesses in Bath, students will pitch their ideas to a panel of ‘Dragons’ – similar to reality TV programme Dragons’ Den.
This will include ex-Bath College media student Sebastian Hawker, now creative director at NOW Bath, Tom Lewis from the media hub CoWorking Bath and Cathrine Svendsen, creative director of Catalyst Social Media, as well as College Principal, Matt Atkinson.
Matt Atkinson, College Principal, said: “This will give students practical employability skills and an understanding of how businesses work.
“They will gain skills and experience of creating, planning and running their own businesses, which will prepare them well for their future careers.
“The College prides itself on helping and supporting students as they progress into further study or employment.”
The event on Thursday will be live streamed online by media students at Tempa who will also be managing the event, as well as promoting and handling aspects of the marketing campaign via Twitter and Facebook.
Among those facing the ‘Dragons’ is Teeruthpal Singh Purewall who will pitch his music video and artist promotion company called, Out of the Trash productions.
He said: “We want to establish an efficient and successful business and this project is giving me skills from in a real media industry based project.”
The groups pitching the best business ideas will be offered help, advice and general support.
Project leader and creative director of Tempa, Darren Rogers is also hopeful of financial assistance for the start-ups from the young entrepreneur funding agency Live UnLtd.
He said: “I really think that these companies and the young people behind them are worthy of investment.
“They may not have fully developed business heads yet but they can offer their creativity and passion. The companies they form today may be their passport to a great career”.
You can follow the live stream of the event on: http://www.bladudmagazine.com/stream
