Partner Article

Hartlepool set to turn passions into profit

Enterprise Insight, the national campaign to promote entrepreneurship, has teamed up with Hartlepool Enterprise Centre to launch Hartlepool Indoor Market’s scheme to rejuvenate the market place.

‘Passions into Profit’ is Enterprise Insight’s campaign, which aims to turn empty retail space in shopping malls and town centres into thriving businesses. It is partnering with Hartlepool Enterprise Centre to regenerate the Indoor Market.

The market’s re-launch takes place on Saturday 5 September.

The scheme aims to stimulate Hartlepool’s untapped business potential by putting the 20 disused retail spaces in the market to good use, and two units at Hartlepool’s Indoor Market have been set aside for the Passions into Profit scheme.

One stall will be used as a business advice drop-in zone, and the other will be available to pre-start-up businesses free of charge, on a revolving four week basis, enabling them to test out their business ideas and sell to the public.

Pamela Hargreaves, Enterprise Insight’s director of partnerships, said: “We are looking for new business start-ups, or people who are in the early stages of setting up their own venture who can use the market stalls as a test bed for their products or services.”

Ms Hargreaves, who is also Hartlepool Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, believes this is a welcome boost to the town’s economy.

“I am throwing down the gantlet to other councils in the region to see if they can encourage the uptake of empty retail units, just like Hartlepool and Gateshead’s innovative Starter for Ten project. It is a fantastic project and one which I believe could become a model for councils across the country.”

People who are interested in taking Enterprise Insight’s Passions into Profit stall can find more information at www.passionsintoprofit.org.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .