On Monday evening I visited the Peter Jones Academy at the Bournemouth and Poole College for a networking evening. Truth be told I have heard a lot about this academy and wanted to check it out and see what was going on.
The Peter Jones Academy was established by the Dragons Den entrepreneur Peter Jones to equip future entrepreneurs with skills they need to run their own business.
At the event there was a mixture of Bournemouth business owners and student entrepreneurs, with many of the business owners attending out of curiosity to see what all the buzz was about.
Each of the students gave a presentation about what their business was and what stage they were at within their start-up. Most of the students started their course in September and many only started their business at the beginning of the year.
The students all had great business ideas with superb potential and it was astounding to hear about the progress they have been making in their business in such a short period of time whist also studying at college.
The students were enthusiastic, motivated and clearly excited about their entrepreneurial journey ahead of them. Just chatting to them you could clearly see that they were passionate about their business.
For an accountant and business owner based in Bournemouth its brilliant to see that there is this level of entrepreneurial talent coming through in our area. I feel that everyone who attended the event was able to take something away from it – for me personally I left feeling inspired, excited and motivated.
At the moment Bournemouth is booming, we now have a premiership football team, the digital sector is the fastest growing in the country and there countless new businesses setting up shop here. We are entering a very exciting time here in Bournemouth and it feels great to be part of that journey.