London College of Communication supports creative entrepreneurship through LCC Accelerate 2024

Developing as a creative not only involves growing your technical expertise, but also key professional skills that can enable you to progress in your career: whether you choose to embed your own innovative insights within existing organisations, or to gain the confidence and knowledge needed to launch your own.

Opportunities to build this skillset are embedded across life at LCC - from the curricula of our courses to broader initiatives that support emerging creatives to explore, make and create new ideas, futures and realities.

Our LCC Accelerate business incubation programme has been designed to empower current students and recent graduates of the College to take their entrepreneurial ideas to the next stage. Supported by experienced professionals and expert advisers, participants learn the necessary start-up tools and frameworks to help their businesses thrive.

Over the course of 12 weeks, they learn how to complement their creative thinking by learning how to develop the practical considerations of their initial concepts, along with the basics of financial planning.

They also learn how to market their own distinctive brand, build networks, pitch to potential investors, and new ways in which their ideas can address real-world challenges to make a lasting impact.

"Thinking about the bare bones of an idea from scratch"

First launched in 2023, LCC Accelerate has since supported a number of previous participants to gain traction and spring to life thanks to the foundational grounding gained through the programme:

• Tolly Robinson, developer of the Lupa accessible darkroom project, was recently awarded funding through a UAL Pitch It event
• Frieda Bischoff and Vassi Deij of Renée Materials, a digital marketplace for reclaimed creative materials, were named Creative Industries Award Finalists at the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition
• Nicki Deux’s community-centred mural concept, Colouring Spaces, secured a place within the UAL Creative Business Accelerator
• Victoria Monari’s cutting-edge technological skincare brand, Monari Skin, continues to gain substantial press coverage as it prepares to launch its first product range.

Victoria recently explained that taking part in LCC Accelerate provided a flexible space and external guidance that enabled her to grow her business from a holistic perspective.

“The programme set the foundation for Monari Skin by allowing me to think about the bare bones of an idea from scratch,” she said.

“The fact it facilitated talks from external creatives was super inspiring - their insights not only helped us to learn about their businesses, but, most notably, all of the key lessons they had learned along the way.”

"Transforming early-stage ideas into flourishing enterprises"

Luminita Molico, Graduate Futures Manager at LCC, explained that the success enjoyed by 2023 programme participants demonstrates the power of incubation programmes to develop practical frameworks that support start-ups and small businesses.

"As the initiator and lead of LCC Accelerate, I'm thrilled to see it emerge as a catalyst for both creative mastery and entrepreneurial savvy," she said.

"Our aim is to transform early-stage ideas into flourishing enterprises, and we're committed to equipping our graduates with entrepreneurial skills - enabling them to bring their creative visions to fruition.

"The remarkable achievements of our alumni echo the ethos of LCC Accelerate: to be an engine of transformation within the creative industry - propelling businesses forward, one at a time."

LCC Accelerate 2024

The 2024 cohort features a total of 14 businesses, all of whom will receive the guidance they need to develop their business ideas, learn basic tools and procedures, and grow as entrepreneurs through 1-1 coaching.

Representing 5 collectives and 9 individuals, this year’s concepts include:

• Accessify, an accessible living think tank that aims to connect researchers, creatives, medical health-care practitioners and people of lived experience to improve quality of life and community health. (Abi Chapman, MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures)
• Nemu, a digital platform for showcasing fashion collections in immersive virtual reality (VR) environments in ways that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly. (Carlos Shields-Davis, MA Virtual Reality)
• Kahju, a design practice that collaborates with local businesses to visually connect with communities in meaningful, authentic and representative ways. (Catarina Bernardi, BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media + Siya Archik, MA Graphic Branding and Identity)
• A social enterprise that supports community-driven change through research based design-in-action interventions. (Chiara Portinari, MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures)
• An accessible sensory brand that can supply attire and resources that can change the day-to-day experience of users and their families. (Eleanor Swann, PgCert Design for Visual Communication)
• An innovative brand specialising in handmade ceramics and illustrated stationery products that offer a contemporary interpretation of traditional Indian art forms and stories to a global audience. (Kishita Nayyar, MA Illustration and Visual Media)
• A film label that supports small-scale and independent productions by distributing curated selections of high-quality cinema on DVD – preserving excellent films physically beyond the cloud. (Marco-Antonio Grubben, BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media + Timotej Bača, BA (Hons) Film and Television)