Last week I attended the launch event of the Peter Coates Fast Forward programme at Staffordshire University.
I am grateful to Peter, the Chairman of Stoke City Football Club and bet365, who is making a £20m personal donation to fund this exciting project which has the potential to turbocharge our local economy.
Staffordshire University will offer a course for budding business founders - the Peter Coates MSc in Entrepreneurship - from January 2023.
At the conclusion of the course, students will put together business propositions, and the Peter Coates Foundation will invest up to £200,000 in each - a little like The Apprentice but without the ridiculous CVs! This will grow to up to 30 projects a year.
The idea is to build skills and a culture of entrepreneurship in North Staffs, and then create a cluster of successful start-ups which will attract even more investment into our area.
Thank you Peter!