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500 People Complete MENTA’s ‘Start Right’ Business Training

Fri Feb 15 2019

Since 2016 MENTA has been providing free business start-up training in Suffolk and Norfolk under its Start Right programme. This support enables people to prepare and gain business skills, knowledge and information to give their new enterprise every chance of success.
Five hundred delegates have completed MENTA’s Start Right programme of three, four hour, fun and friendly workshops which cover subjects such as business planning, marketing, book keeping and self-assessment.

So far, a total of 270 people have started their businesses across the two counties in the last three years as a result of MENTA’s Start Right support.

Jo Garden who manages Start Right commented, “It’s great to see the ambition and entrepreneurial ideas delegates have and to see them become confident in their abilities to launch their business.”

“At MENTA we continue to support new start-ups as they become more established. They meet up at our monthly networking events, Coffee Means Business attend business masterclasses and seminars and tap into further business advice as they expand and grow, helping the local economy prosper.”

One Start Right MENTA client is Adam Steggles who set up his Refined Blinds showroom near Bury St Edmunds in 2018 after 19 years’ experience in the window blind industry. He attended MENTA’s three, free, four-hour sessions and said, “I found the Start Right workshops to be invaluable for my new business, despite my initial reluctance to attend ‘courses’. My scepticism was completely unfounded however, the tutors were friendly, informative and continue to be a source of knowledge and support. The workshops opened my eyes and thoughts to areas I hadn't considered, as well as furthering and refining the ideas I had already conceived and was putting into practice.”

Adam Steggles set up his Refined Blinds showroom near Bury St Edmunds in 2018 after 19 years’ experience in the window blind industry. He attended MENTA’s three, free, four-hour sessions and said, “I found the Start Right workshops to be invaluable for my new business, despite my initial reluctance to attend ‘courses’. My skepticism was completely unfounded however, the tutors were friendly, informative and continue to be a source of knowledge and support. The workshops opened my eyes and thoughts to areas I hadn't considered, as well as furthering and refining the ideas I had already conceived and was putting into practice.”

Adam commented, “I set up Refined Blinds to provide a friendly, no pressure approach (to blind buying). We pride ourselves on attention to detail and the one to one personal service we provide.”

The Start Right Programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and MENTA’s expert trainers hold regular training sessions in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Beccles in Suffolk; and Norwich, Dereham and North Walsham in Norfolk.  To attend the three, free, fully funded workshops you must live in Norfolk or Suffolk, and be thinking of starting a business or have done so in the last 12 months.

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