Global Entrepreneurship Week 2018 – Gosport Enterprise Fair

In celebration of Global Enterprise Week and following the success of our first Gosport Armed Forces Enterprise Fair in 2016 hosted by MP Caroline Dinenage, X-Forces Enterprise will be attending our second Gosport Enterprise Fair on Friday 16^th November 2018. The Gosport Enterprise Fair is aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs from the local Armed Forces community. As MP Caroline Dinenage said,

 ‘…it provides them with ample opportunity to hear about the support they need to grow their businesses or realise their ambitions of becoming an entrepreneur’.

 It was particularly important for us to have a presence at the Gosport Enterprise Fair given the large Naval community there, and as over 17% of the entrepreneurs XFE have supported are from the Royal Navy, we’d like to be able to extend our support to as many members of the local Armed Forces community as possible.

At the time of the first Gosport Armed Forces Enterprise Fair, we had launched over 750 businesses, and I am extremely proud to be able to say that we have now supported almost double this. This also includes a wide range of businesses from the Naval Community including Veteran Petty Officer Jamie Savage who recent launched his restaurant, ‘Savage Mussles’ and Reservist & XFE Ambassador Neel Singh who took over Dworking Brewery In 2017.

Ren Kapur & Caroline Dinenage MP

XFE has lent over £16million in startup funding, of which 29% are women and 66% are Veterans or Reservists and 33.6% are family members. Since the last Enterprise Fair we have also ran our first programme especially designed for Armed Forces Widows and Dependants which was a great success.

We would not have been able to achieve this without the collaboration and support of our partners which is why it is of the utmost importance that we attend such events to showcase the support network which our entrepreneurs are able to access. We are able to show our local Naval community the access to the knowledge and resources available to help their startups succeed, and also with the reassurance of knowing they will be supported throughout their journey, whether they are serving, a service leaver, veteran spouse or a dependent.

Attending the fair will be our Mentor Dax, alongside XFE beneficiary Neil Hallsworth of Explorer Coffees, Navy Spouse and former Army Veteran who will be sharing his journey of business startup.

We are proud to have helped veterans, service leavers, spouses, widows and family members gain new skills and confidence whilst supporting themselves and their families. #EnterpriseForLife.

Start your own journey of discovery with X-Forces: if you are thinking of starting a business or have already started a business then we welcome you to attend our free business start-up workshop: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/business-start-up-workshop-for-naval-families-portsmouth-tickets-51746099978