Funding to help more creatives start up in business has been secured by a non-profit community and coworking space after the success of an earlier scheme.

Bournemouth and Poole’s Outset programme, delivered by the YTKO group and funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), worked with TOSH before the pandemic hit.

Together they provided subsidised workspaces for emerging creative businesses.

TOSH – which stands for The Old School House – provided the physical space in Gladstone Road, Boscombe, and Outset offered a host of support including free 1:1 mentoring, workshops and events.

With the pandemic affecting the venue at the beginning of the year TOSH collaborated with ‘Plan Make Do’ Founder Laura Mulhern and, with Outset’s support, was able to launch a new workshop-based course to support start-ups.

The team received funding to take on 13 start-ups, providing them with tailored mentoring and support across six months.

They were even able to meet up face-to-face for the last two month’s events.

The programme was such a success that TOSH has now secured further funding.

It will potentially support up to five more waves of the programme, meaning the future for Bournemouth’s creative businesses looks bright.

Cora Clarke, Marketing and Development Coordinator at TOSH, pictured left, said Outset had offered great resource, both for the businesses on the programme, as well as helping to support TOSH and its staff.

She added: “They bring a wealth of experience and advice which is very important for us and the creative businesses we support.

“They provide reassurance, skills and expertise which clients can get for free, which is a huge boost for their development.”

More than 22,500 businesses have been assisted by YTKO’s services since 2006.

According to an independent impact assessment commissioned in 2020, YTKO’s support has enabled the creation of 6,574 businesses, over 10,500 sustainable new jobs and an estimated £2.61bn in sales income.

The businesses that have received support in that time have also been proved to be fitter and better funded with over 76 per cent of new firms surviving more than three years and having raised around £71.3m of growth finance.

Outset and GetSet for Growth are services provided by YTKO in Dorset as part of the Dorset Growth Partnership to help any Dorset based SMEs become more competitive.

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the partnership is led by WSX and the Dorset Growth Hub.

It is supported by Recreate Dorset and BCP Council.

• Find out more about how your business could benefit from free 121 mentoring, workshops and events by clicking here.