Cotswold Fayre Young Food and Drink Entrepreneur of the Year

When I was at uni, I busied myself in my spare time with a serious Livejournal obsession. When I wasn't reading (English degree - LOTS of reading), I was writing angsty entries, meeting friends that I'd keep for life and making hundreds and hundreds of icons. Some of it seems like a waste of time now, I must confess. Not the part about making friends, obviously, but the rest... well, if it had been a blog, like this one, I could have been cornering the market early and getting all the benefits that come from blogging. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

These days (I am very very old) a lot of students seem to have a better idea of how to fill their time. Lots of them ARE bloggers, then there's those that intern during their holidays, or work with brands on student marketing during term time. And apparently, 80,000 students in the UK run a business while they study. That's a pretty epic number. Even something fairly simple like an Etsy shop takes a lot of time and work, so it shows serious commitment.

To support these young entrepreneurs, Cotswold Fayre has launched a start-up support scheme - the Young Food and Drink Entrepreneur of the Year. The initiative aims to help food entrepreneurs aged between 16-25 who are looking for help and support with their business - the winner will get £1000 to help grow their company, plus monthly mentor meetings with business advisors to help grow their plan, and will work with a designer to grow their brand identiy.

It's a great idea, and really worth your time if you're young and starting a business of your own, from making cupcakes in your kitchen to launching your own food truck. The food and drink industry always needs new blood, so supporting young people making their first steps into business is a great thing. Imagine finding something you love and making it into your career - wouldn't that be amazing?

Applications for this year’s award open on 1 March 2015 and close on 30 June 2015. The application form can be found on http://ift.tt/1JAxxGf. The pics are of last year's winner, Chris Hannaway from Overly

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