The Graduate Incubation Programme is a new, free, 12-month offer of support for students who graduated from Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon in the years 2015 - 2020 who would like to set up and grow viable businesses within a creative, supportive and autonomous environment.
Launched in Summer 2020 and open for applications until 12pm on Wednesday 23 September 2020, the programme is looking for graduates whose business proposals aim to address the areas of climate emergency, social justice or responsible use of emerging technologies.
Successful applicants will then take part in an interactive, blended programme of mentoring, workshops and guest speakers that has been specifically designed to support early-stage creative and digital businesses from idea stage to launch.
We spoke to Alyssa Becht, who coordinates the programme, about why it's so important to support our graduates at this time and how and how the programme she has designed is "for people who think they have an idea that could become a successful business; whether it’s a product or service, a start-up, social enterprise or anything else."
Can you please tell us in your own words about the Graduate Incubation Programme?
The programme launches at the end of October and is distinct from generic business support offers as it’s specifically tailored for creative graduates who have no prior experience in entrepreneurship.
It has a strong social aspect; successful applicants need to address at least one of three core challenges via their businesses. The core challenges are: climate emergency (for example, environmental sustainability), social justice (for example, diversity, inclusivity and equality) and the responsible use of emerging technologies.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme will be online for the remainder of 2020 at least but we hope there will be some physical delivery of activities in 2021, Camberwell College of Arts where I’m based.
What about your own background, what did you do before joining Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon?
Before joining UAL in January 2020, I managed the Royal College of Art’s start-up incubator and centre for entrepreneurship, InnovationRCA, for 4 years. I like to think I played a small part in InnovationRCA being awarded Accelerator of the Year' at the UKBAA Angel Investment Awards 2019 – an Art and Design university accelerator beating corporate competitors was a huge win for the creative entrepreneurship sector.
, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
I see that the programme will involve mentoring and guest speakers, can you tell us a bit about what you have planned for this and who might be on board to work with the graduates who take part?
We have an amazing and diverse cohort of mentors signed up to take part. They include fashion gurus, digital marketers, product design experts, sustainability champions and UAL graduates who have founded and run their own highly successful start-up companies.
Each participant on the programme will be matched with a sector specific mentor who will support and guide them through their entrepreneurial journey and everyone will have regular sessions with me too – I really want participants to feel they can approach me with any specific concerns or skills gaps they think we can address.
What are your hopes for the first year of the programme?
Fingers crossed we’ll get an enthusiastic and varied group of projects for the first year. As I said earlier, my aspiration for the programme is that at the end of the 12 months, participants will have a strong understanding of the market, they’ll feel confident to talk about their business to potential investors or customers – and of course - that they’ll launch their creative company!
It’s been a challenging year for lots of people, but especially for professionals in the arts and design sector who have seen their industries hugely impacted by coronavirus.
So it seems like a great time to launch the incubation programme and foster graduate talent. What do you think will be the long term impact of this year’s circumstances on small creative businesses?
Professionally, I think it will be a tough year for 2020 graduates in particular. With so much uncertainty, planning for the future will be tough and we don’t really know what the job market will be like for creative graduates in the next couple of years.
I think the key to success for small creative businesses going forward will be their ability to be resilient, agile and alert. Things won’t go as planned so businesses will need to focus on their online profile and keep their customer informed. If it’s a product-based business there may be supply chain delays that will need to be addressed, that sort of thing. Founder resilience and how to build an agile company are just two of the topics we will cover in the Graduate Incubation Programme.
In regards to medium and long-term impact, unemployment rates are likely to rise so UAL teaching graduates how to create their own jobs- to be employers rather than employees is just one way we can support our early-stage creatives during and post-pandemic.
Applications for the programme close on Wednesday 23 September and I really can’t wait to see what sorts of exciting ideas Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon grads propose!
The deadline for applications for the Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Graduate Incubation programme is 12pm on Wednesday 23 September 2020: find out more and apply
To see the work of our graduating students, visit the UAL Graduate Showcase