Business needs you!

That’s the urgent plea to young people across the county from a re-launched Kent Foundation. Over the next few years, the revamped charity aims to encourage many more to set up on their own, do well and and create jobs.

The Foundation was created 22 years ago and has already helped many young entrepreneurs, as well as other good causes. But it has lived in the shadow of the better-known Prince’s Trust created by the Prince of Wales.

After cutting formal links with the Trust last year, the Kent Foundation is unveiling a series of activities to promote business as a great opportunity for young people and help them overcome the hurdles.

But financial resources are an issue, with the Kent County Council-backed organisation only having around £500,000 in its kitty. It is looking to more individual donors, corporate sponsors and charities to boost funds.

Speaking at the first-ever stakeholder summit, the Foundation’s new director Paul Barron, said he wanted it to be the first port of call for anyone who wanted to start their own business.

It would help young people who did not want to go to university as well as graduates from Kent and Medway universities. "The Kent Foundation is Kent’s best well-kept secret," he said, adding that it would be seeking partners who shared his passion for valuing young people.

Allan Mowatt, chairman of the Kent Fuondation trustees, said at the re-launch in Pizza Express, Maidstone, "It’s going to help the economy of Kent. It will help to keep young people in Kent, and it will also help to create jobs."

Recent research commissioned by the Foundation from BIG Solutions, based in Kent, found that 46 per cent of higher education students were interested in starting a business but only 20 per cent of grammar school students felt the same way.

Most thought it was too risky, too expensive and they did not have the right business idea.

Kate Austen, 25, and her brother Thomas set up Podplus at the Julie Rose Stadium, Ashford, three years ago. It sells sporting footwear and offers chiropody and physiotherapy services.

She has been helped by grants from both the Foundation and the Prince’s Trust. She welcomed the new-look Foundation. "This should encourage many young people into business," she said

"A lot of people don’t consider starting a business as an option. When I was at school, I didn’t even consider it. It was only when I left education and went into work that I really thought about it. The education system is more geared to getting students a job and encouraging them to start a business."

A new website www.kentfoundation.org has been launched to tell young people more about the scheme.