Leading lights from the creative industries are being teamed up with twenty four high growth companies to build the world class businesses of tomorrow in a new initiative aimed at boosting the UK's creative industry.
The Creative Business Mentor Network run by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) with delivery partners Pact and Grant Thornton has been designed to unleash the potential of some of the UK's most promising advertising, TV production and digital companies and help them grow into significant players in the sectors.
Having been selected from hundreds of entries, each of the twenty four companies has been matched with a highly experienced mentor who will share their years of business and industry experience with their mentee. They will also gain access to practical advice on the challenges of building a creative business with the aim of helping them take the next steps in growing their business and becoming a major contributor to the UK economy.
Jon Kingsbury, Director of the Creative Economy at NESTA says: "Creative businesses are highly networked, but getting practical, intelligent advice on business growth, from people who appreciate their sector, is tough to find. Our programme focuses on the highly innovative, creative businesses which will contribute to the creative industries leading the UK out of recession.'
Recent analysis from NESTA shows that the UK's creative industries will take centre-stage as a major, high growth contributor to the UK economy over the next five years. The analysis suggests that between 2009 and 2013 the UK creative industries - which is responsible for films, music, fashion, TV advertising and digital media including video games production - will grow on average at 4% - more than double the rate of the rest of the economy. By 2013, the sector is expected to employ 1.3 million people with as many as 180,000 creative businesses in the sector, compared to the current number of 148,000. In the same year, the sector is expected to contribute as much as £85 billion to UK value added, up from £57 billion.
NESTA research has also found that in 90% of creative businesses, over half of its senior management team have not had any business development training and only 35% of creative businesses have set business revenue goals.