Entrepreneurial Spark, the nationwide accelerator programme for entrepreneurs, has officially launched its Bristol hub – with one resident firm gaining an instant £1,000 boost to their business at the opening ceremony.
The Bristol Hatchery, which is backed by NatWest and based at the bank’s Trinity Quay office complex, is already home to 80 fledgling businesses – or ‘chiclets’ – who are taking part in the free, six-month programme. 
These start-up and early-stage firms are given access physical office space with superfast internet, a start-up bootcamp, dedicated mentoring, regular events, workshops and training. Those showing the most potential are invited to stay in the centre for another 12 months.
The 13-strong hatchery network, which is also backed by accountancy group KPMG, has already supported nearly 400 businesses, which have received £20m in investment and created more than 1,000 jobs. They are expected to support 7,000 entrepreneurs over the next five years as the network continues to grow.
As part of the official opening of the Bristol Hatchery yesterday, five of its resident entrepreneurs were given the chance to pitch for a 60 seconds to invited guests to win £1,000.
The judging panel made up of RBS CEO Ross McEwan, NatWest commercial and private banking CEO Alison Rose, NatWest personal and business banking CEO Les Matheson, KPMG head of national markets Iain Moffat, and Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson awarded the £1,000 to social entrepreneur Samantha Mant, whose firm Halcyan Water Conditioners is the UK sole importer of an eco-friendly limescale remover.
Samantha, pictured above receiving her cheque from Ross McEwan, will put the money towards rebranding her business, currently called Ecosoft, to Halcyan.
She said: “Being chosen as one of the five entrepreneurs to pitch today made me think pretty hard about what I needed to say to this audience, and it also made me think about the business itself. The support within the hatchery has been phenomenal – everyone has been practising pitches with each other.”
The four other contenders were Truestart, which sells caffeine-controlled performance coffee, high-quality square pie firm Eat Square, content marketing agency Future Content, and image consultancy GS Styling.
Mayor Ferguson described the hatchery was “absolutely in the spirit of Bristol”.
“You will get more support from us here in Bristol than the leaders of any other city in the UK,” he said.
Alison Rose said the hatcheries were an innovative way of supporting small businesses.
“Starting a business can be tough and it can be lonely. But it doesn’t need to be like that,” she said.
“The hub provides business owners with the infrastructure, advice and support they need to give them that extra boost during the key early stages of building their business.”
New research from NatWest showed that 46% of people in the South West would prefer to be self-employed but 60% were held back by a fear of failure, she said
“While 27% think now is a good time to start a business just 2% are actually taking the plunge.”
Ross McEwan added that the hatcheries created a “can-do” attitude and backing them was part of RBS/NatWest’s ambition to become the UK’s number one bank for small businesses.
Entrepreneurial Spark founder and CEO Jim Duffy added: “There is real entrepreneurial talent coming forward across the UK, no more so than in Bristol and the South West where we’ve had a record level of applications to join the hatchery.
“We look forward to being part of the start-up community, helping entrepreneurs to develop winning mindsets and behaviours in order to scale up their businesses.”
Iain Moffat said there had been a seismic shift in the UK towards entrepreneurism and the hub would help support “the Googles of tomorrow”.
“Starting up a business is all about getting the right support in place and having the confidence to see your plans through. With Entrepreneurial Spark, Bristol’s thriving entrepreneurial community has just the platform to nurture their ideas into reality. The energy created by the hub is infectious – our KPMG enterprise team is extremely excited to be an official partner and can’t wait to get stuck in to mentoring some truly inspiring and incredible businesses.”
Pictured, from left: Camilla Tempier of Bibby Financial Services; Caroline Thompson, enterprise development manager at NatWest; Les Matheson, MD NatWest Personal and Business Banking; and Beth Nicholas of The Art Troupe
