Carnegie UK Trust’s TestTown aims to fill the void left by the 50,000* vacant shops in Britain’s town centres by providing young people with the retail space, facilities, and support they need to try out their ideas for real – literally creating ‘test towns’ in seven locations around the country, including Bury St Edmunds.
With just three per cent of small businesses run by under-35s** and more 16- to 24-year-olds (54%) now out of work than any other age group***, TestTown also offers a lifeline to young people with an entrepreneurial spirit but little means to turn their idea into reality.
TestTown has been in development for over two years. The Carnegie UK Trust ran a pilot event in 2013, which created a number of successful businesses and shaped the lives of those who took part. Sales over of £10,000 were taken during the TestTown week and footfall in the trading streets doubled. The event was won by Jenna Fairgrieve and Emma Pauley, owners of ‘Back on the High Street’, whose concept offered artists and crafters cheap shelf rental to serve as a platform for their work. Emma has since gone onto launch ‘Miss Pauley’s’, which has turned this business idea into a reality.
Anyone aged between 16 and 30 can apply to be part of TestTown, which is taking place in seven towns and cities around the UK, followed by a national final. At the regional stage unused high street spaces will be made available to the TestTown groups and individuals to trial their ideas. Each town will select a national finalist, whose idea will then be tested against the other regional finalists at an undisclosed high street location.
The national Final of TestTown will be won by the most successful person or team during a week-long ‘pop up’ retail festival hosted in a prominent British town centre. The winner will claim a £10,000 cash investment for their business and ongoing support from Carnegie UK Trust and its partners.
Jim Metcalfe, TestTown Programme Leader at the Carnegie UK Trust, said: “The time has come to offer young people the opportunity to bring a new perspective to our high streets. In the age of online shopping and social media, town centres need to adapt to woo local people back into them.
“TestTown will demonstrate that imaginative, youthful thinking can help our flagging high streets. It will show young people that they can realise their potential, and create great new businesses. There is chronic youth unemployment in the UK and the sight of vacant shops in our town centres is something this initiative aims to change.”
The regional heats of TestTown will be held from June to August in seven locations: Bury St Edmunds, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Rhyl, Kirkintilloch, Perth and Coleraine. Regional winners will also secure £500 start-up funding for their idea.
Jim Metcalfe added: “We have deliberately selected a diverse range of towns for our regional heats. Some are thriving; others have challenging retail environments; and some attract more tourist traffic. Each brings a unique aspect to TestTown and should provide really interesting results.
“As a result, there is no need for applicants to simply look at their nearest ‘TestTown’. Applicants should assess what might suit their business idea. TestTown is about giving the next generation of entrepreneurs the support needed to help make their business idea a reality, after all.”
TestTown is now open for applications until 16th April. Find out more at www.testtown.org.uk. Follow the progress on Twitter and join in the town centre debate @TestTown2014.
* The Local Data Company, which monitors more than 2,000 town and shopping centres and retail parks.
** Age of membership of Federation of Small Businesses using base of 9,849 SMEs in The FSB ‘Voice
of Small Business’ Member Survey
*** Office of National Statistics
******
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