Student Entrepreneurship: How Young People Turn Ideas Into Real Opportunities Entrepreneurship rarely begins with a grand plan. More often, it starts with a quiet frustration. A missed opportunity. A moment where someone asks a simple question that won’t go away: why does this have to be this way? For student entrepreneur Isabel Aukland, the question that sparked Jut Jut was surprisingly simple: why is finding the right opportunity still so hard? Like many young people, Isab

This week we delivered Workshop 3 of the East Sussex Digital Growth Series , with this session focusing on cyber safety basics for small businesses .The workshop took place in Hastings and formed part of a six-part, fully funded digital training programme for East Sussex SMEs . The session was delivered by Simon Clark , in collaboration with Portobello Business Centre and in partnership with East Sussex Growth Hub .It was designed to help East Sussex businesses understand

Free Content Marketing Workshops Supporting East Sussex Businesses This week we delivered another fully funded content marketing workshop for East Sussex businesses , bringing local SMEs together in Uckfield for a practical, hands-on session focused on creating content that actually cuts through. The workshop was the fourth session in our East Sussex Digital Growth Series , delivered on behalf of East Sussex Growth Hub and supported by East Sussex County Council . The progr

How one-to-one support helped Natalie take her next step When Natalie first connected with Portobello Business Centre, she had just completed the Money Wise course and taken her first brave step into business. She had used the money she’d saved to start something of her own and had even hosted her very first crystal event at the Commonwealth gathering in Kensington Town Hall. It was an exciting moment, but also a daunting one. Natalie was still new to the world of business an

From Vanity Metrics to Meaningful KPIs: A Practical Business Data Workshop For many small businesses, data can feel overwhelming.Dashboards, metrics and reports often sound useful in theory, but hard to apply in practice. That is why Workshop 2 of our Digital Series , focused on Business, Marketing & Finance Data Made Easy , was such an important moment in the programme. Following the strong turnout for Workshop 1, this second session once again demonstrated the appetite amon

Student Entrepreneurship Bootcamp | Business Training for Young Entrepreneurs at PBC Most young entrepreneurs do not start with a business plan. They start with a thought they cannot quite shake. It might be an idea scribbled in a notebook, something they talk about with friends, or a problem they keep noticing and thinking, there has to be a better way . But between school, exams, part-time jobs and life in general, knowing what to do next is not always obvious. That is exac

A full room, practical conversations and no buzzwords. This is what digital support should look like. There is something powerful about a full room on a weekday morning.It tells you that something matters. That was exactly the feeling at Workshop 1 of our Digital Series , where local businesses from across East Sussex came together for the first of six fully funded sessions focused on AI and automation . For many attendees, this was not about trends or buzzwords. It was abou

Meet Malaki Conteh. Still in his early teens, Malaki has been described in the media as the UK’s youngest business owner - not because of a title, but because of what he has built. Based in South London, Malaki runs a Caribbean food business that contributes towards paying his boarding school fees, reported to be around £4,000 per term.  His entrepreneurial journey began at just six years old, when he sold plants outside his dad’s office to fund singing lessons. That first sm

Pitch for Purpose Competition launches to support purpose-driven SMEs Portobello Business Centre (PBC), in partnership with Workspace and Transformacy , has launched the Pitch for Purpose Competition , a new initiative designed to support small and medium-sized businesses working towards B Corp certification. The competition is open to purpose-driven businesses within the Workspace community that are addressing social challenges, embedding sustainability, or driving innovati

Over the past three decades, business and communications have changed beyond recognition. That much is obvious. What is less comfortable is how many organisations still behave as though the rules are broadly the same, just with better tools and faster channels. As 2026 gets into gear, three things are clearly under strain : news, social media and the ability of many businesses to be seen, believed and chosen by customers when marketing channels are noisier, trust is harder to

For many creative founders, vision comes first and structure follows later. For Tilly, that vision was shaped long before her brand existed. Raised in Transylvania, she grew up in an environment where resourcefulness, craftsmanship and sustainability were part of everyday life. Reuse was not a trend but a necessity, a mindset that would later become the foundation of her work as a luxury upcycling designer. Today, she transforms discarded materials into statement pieces that

Under the arches of Latimer Road was once a quiet stretch of railway brickwork is being reimagined into a vibrant hub for small and ambitious businesses, a place where ideas can grow, creativity can flourish and local enterprise can take centre stage.   For years, these arches stood unused. Now, they are becoming part of a bigger vision. Places for London  is launching its first-ever Places for Growth  location at Lockton Street Arches ,  a programme built to give new and amb

"I wanted to thank you for the fantastic training day and pitching opportunity. This is really enabled me to propel my business."   We first met Kyle at our annual Ready Set Grow event, a full day of interactive workshops and networking designed to help small business owners sharpen their ideas and build confidence. At the end of the day, we invited a selection of participants to pitch for a share of £5,000.   Kyle spoke openly about the gaps holding him back advanced trainin

How a £5,000 PBC Loan Helped Created a Million pound Business In 1995, before his meals appeared on shelves in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Booths and other major supermarkets, Charlie Bigham was simply a young man with a notebook full of ideas, a campervan and a desire to build something of his own. He left his corporate job and travelled through Europe, the Middle East and India, where he spent hours watching food being prepared by street vendors. He was struck by how simp

Behind the Scenes🌶️ From a family kitchen to a film set – Denise, founder of Scotch Rocket, is bringing her 150-year-old hot pepper sauce to life on camera. As one of our Ready Set Grow 2025 Hustle Hub winners, Denise recently spent the day with ✨ The Quick Brown Fox Video Production Ltd ✨, capturing her brand story as part of the prize package she received.   The shoot marks a defining moment in her business journey, celebrating heritage, creativity and growth. Her story wi

What happens when young people fully understand what entrepreneurship means and see it as a real and achievable career path? The answer is simple. Everything shifts. Curiosity grows, confidence rises and students begin to imagine futures they may never have considered before. This week, Dr Sheela Sharma continued her work in schools across London, delivering impactful entrepreneurship sessions to students at two inspiring institutions. Each group was at a different stage in t

We’re thrilled to share some big news! PBC has been awarded the opportunity to deliver a brand-new series of Digital Workshops across East Sussex - in partnership with  East Sussex County Council ,  East Sussex Growth Hub  and the  Department for Business and Trade   Over the next five months (November 2024 – March 2025), we’ll be running free, in-person sessions in Hastings, Eastbourne, Battle, Lewes and Uckfield, helping local businesses strengthen their digital skills and

Something exciting  is taking shape under the arches of Latimer Road. What was once an unused stretch of railway space is being transformed into a vibrant hub for small businesses - a place where ideas and local ambition can thrive.   At the heart of this transformation is a new partnership  between Portobello Business Centre (PBC) and Transport for London (TfL). Together, we’re working to turn the Lockton Street Arches into a space where entrepreneurship can take root and gr

When the Portobello Business Centre  team visited Notre Dame Roman Catholic Girls' School  in South East London to talk about student entrepreneurship, the impact on students was clear to see. 134 Year 11 pupils explored what it means to think like an entrepreneur, develop a business idea of their own and see entrepreneurship as a real career opportunity. “We were very fortunate to have [Portobello Business Centre] Dr Sheela Sharma deliver a most engaging presentation on entr

At the start of 2025 there were 5.64 million small businesses in the UK private sector. That figure represents 99.18% of all UK businesses. According to the Department for Business and Trade, the private sector had 5.69 million businesses in total with only 8,335 classed as large companies employing more than 250 people. These numbers show that the real strength of the UK economy lies not in the large corporations that dominate headlines but in the millions of small and micro