The National Endowment for the Science, Arts & Technology presented the first batch of Creative Pioneers in Glasgow on the 27th July, 2004.

Most UK graduate-entrepreneurs average ten years of post-graduate experience before starting their own businesses. In contrast, Creative Industry graduates tend to enter into business a lot sooner and have a natural aptitude for coping with dynamic, chaotic situations. However, one significant challenge affecting the graduates in the Creative industries is the potential lack of relevant work/ operative experience due to plunging into business early. A lack in assets such as numeracy and accounting, commercial confidence, organisational skills, and day to day business exposure can be fatal. The Creative Pioneers program was set up to target these issues.

Neil McGuire, Sarah Raffeal, and Ulla Winkler shared their experiences going through the program, pointing out valuable lessons that they have now applied to their business startups. Advice given by the NESTA instructors that they found most useful included

1. Keep updated with current developments in your field
2. Take a crash course in business fundamentals and remember them well
3. Train people in groups so they can support each other and build relationships
4. Small but intense is good, especially in the startup phase
 
It was also pointed out that current business support mechanisms needed to evolve in order to better address the needs of new creative enterprises. There is also a need for a guide to good practice models to be disseminated amongst the creative population at large.
For this and more information, visit http://www.creativeentrepreneurs.com