People who have been unemployed are being helped to turn their dreams into business reality.

The Enterprise Agency Brighton, Hove and Lewes is running Business Class II to provide financial reviews, business courses, networking opportunities and marketing assistance.

The programme, which was piloted last year, is funded by South Coast Working Links, a public/private partnership which helps the long-term unemployed back into work.

New businesses already getting the Business Class II treatment include an architecture and design company, a fashion retailer and an IT training business, while graduates of the pilot programme include a hypnotherapist, solar panel company and headdress designer.

Enterprise Agency director Jane L North said: "Brighton is a hotbed of entrepreneurial talent and the businesses these people have launched reflect the city's diversity. There are some wonderful ideas."

Andrew Clarke, 36, from Brighton, is a qualified vastu and vedic astrology consultant. He spent ten years studying the ancient sciences and wisdoms of India at The College of Vedic Studies in Hertfordshire.

Vastu has been described as the Indian feng shui and Andrew had already set up Vastu Design prior to joining Business Class II.

He said: "It's such a valuable service that hasn't caught on as much as feng shui over here. It promotes well-being and good health and can help with relationship problems."

Although unemployed when he set up the company, Andrew had previously been a sales manager so had some business experience.

He has already found the Business Class II scheme a big help, even though he has only been on it one month.

He said: "It has been a Godsend. I've received so much help with marketing and promotional work. I'm quite business-minded but the challenge for me is to get out there and promote my services.

"Vastu has really taken off in Germany and I would like to replicate that success here."

Helen Goss, 36, from Brighton, relaunched her business, Wayout Media, in March. She has been a web designer since 1994. After a brief period of unemployment, she became involved with Working Links and is also enrolled on the Business Class II programme.

She decided to refocus her energies on teaching people how to design web pages.

She said: "Web design is always described as really complicated but if you keep things simple and bear in mind you want everyone to be able to see what you've done, it's not as difficult as people think.

"I've worked with community groups for a long time and noticed the problems they've faced. Low budgets and a lack of time mean these are exactly the sort of people who would benefit from training to make web design simpler."

Helen, who is full of praise for Business Class II, said: "The training courses cover everything from accounting to marketing and have really helped me. They are a great place to network and share experiences, while the mentoring helps you stay on track."

Helen would like to develop her business so she could travel and teach, taking advantage of portable technology.

She said: "There is quite a lot to learn in the beginning but just about anyone can design a web site with a little bit of experience."

Project manager Jessica Blake said: "We've already got a really good group of people. There's a real mix of ideas, ranging from someone who draws people's homes to a dog walker."

Jeweller Cara Brennan was one of the successes of the pilot scheme and has sold her wares, including her best-selling line of chakra jewellery, around the city and further afield.

She has built her company to the level where she is able to travel to source the gems and beads to incorporate into her pieces, including silver and fresh water pearls from Thailand, semi-precious stones from India and rare glass beads from Venice, Italy.

She said: "The scheme is fantastic for helping you crystallise your ideas and improve the skills that many entrepreneurs lack, such as marketing. I would recommend it to anyone."

Jane said: "All credit to Working Links in funding a scheme that helps people move from unemployment to self-employment. In previous systems, as soon as you started earning you lost your dole money but this is much better.

"The other important aspect is the follow-up mentoring, which is something most small businesses would kill for. This is free and quality mentoring, which makes a big difference.

"The scheme helps those people who might otherwise have slipped through the cracks. It's enabling them to make a legitimate contribution to the city's economic wellbeing.

"A lot of people in Brighton are not sure what to do with their lives. They might have worked, parented and/or been employed but they've reached the point where they want to go it alone. We're giving them the support to help them."

Tuesday June 17, 2003