Britishbusiness school on the way
A British pop-up business school that teaches budding entrepreneurs to forget about their business plan is heading to Porirua.
The PopUp Business School, the brainchild of Simon Paine and Alan Donegan, is a free 10-day course which helps people make money or build businesses, without the need for a business degree.
Wellington business consultant Tony Henderson-Newport approached Paine and Donegan about a year ago, as he wanted to provide New Zealanders with a ‘‘chance to have a real crack at starting their own business’’.
‘‘It’s about helping people to get into business who never thought they could get into business by themselves,’’ Henderson-Newport said.
The school has been running in Britain for about six years. Last year, it helped get nearly 290 new businesses off the ground.
Henderson-Newport heard many success stories when he visited the United Kingdom four months ago, which further cemented his vision of bringing the school to New Zealand.
He quickly began approaching councils, economic development agencies, and government departments to secure funding. It costs about $25,000 per course.
Porirua will be the first place in New Zealand to trial the school in October, followed by Upper Hutt and Whanganui.
Anyone can register for the course, however numbers are limited. There are 70 spaces in the Porirua course for those who live or work in the area. Registrations open from September 1.
Course in Upper Hutt and Whanganui are yet to be finalised.
The course will be run by Henderson-Newport and one other, who will be sharing the school founders’ messages.
Henderson-Newport has a background in coaching and mentoring.
In addition, he has worked in the IT sector in New Zealand and overseas, and is an experienced manager. He also works with Victoria University’s young entrepreneurs.
Henderson-Newport said the main message of the business school was ‘‘don’t take out a loan, and don’t write up a business plan’’.
‘‘It’s not about writing a business plan, because the business plan can always come later. What you are looking to do is get the product out in the market, and test the market.
‘‘And it’s not about taking out a business loan, because if it’s not going to work, the last thing you want to do is incur debt,’’ he said.
‘‘You never know if your idea is going to be successful, or not, right? So you just do the best you can.’’
Cost was a barrier for many people trying to start a business, he said.
‘‘A lot of people think it costs a lot of money to get in to business, but actually, you can get into business for free. There is a lot of stuff you can do and negotiate.
‘‘Ten years ago, you couldn’t build a website for free, but today you can, and there are ways of using social media to enhance the opportunity to sell products that you couldn’t do five years ago, but now you can,’’ he said.
‘‘You are going to learn what you need to do on the cliff face and to know how to do that you need to have some confidence.’’
Henderson-Newport was in talks with councils and agencies in Auckland, and hoped to go further afield.