Popular Business School returns to help more Westminster start-ups

Westminster’s entrepreneurs of the future are being offered free support from the hugely popular, award-winning organisation Rebel Business School, which is returning to Westminster from 7-18^th March in the hope of building new and successful local businesses, as the city recovers from the economic impact of Covid-19.

The Rebel Business School offers courses for everyone, no matter what their starting point or background, for those with no business experience, along with supporting fledgling start-ups that need guidance to keep on track.

In September 2019, Westminster City Council sponsored the school’s largest ever in-person event at Churchill Hall in Pimlico, with 145 people attending. Out of those attendees, 25% started a business during the two-week course and 29% made a sale.

Rebel courses are led by local successful entrepreneurs and professionals and include advice from those who have overcome the ups and downs of business life, but then gone on to succeed.

This course is part of a long-term project which is receiving up to £1.2m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for the European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

“We’ve had some big audiences in the past when we’ve come to Westminster and we’d love to break records again. There’s no limit to the number of people who can join a Zoom event, so I’d like to get well into the hundreds,” says Simon Paine, co-founder of Rebel Business School. 

“There are so many great potential businesses out there, but many people think they can’t do it. But we say you don’t need money or a fancy education to succeed in business. Most people just need a bit of help.” 

Paine says that it is both possible and desirable to start a business, even in the wake of a pandemic, and says the legacy of Covid-19 should not stop anyone from doing so.

“We believe things will get better and want to help people focus on the next chapter of their lives, where they are in control and doing something they love. 

“We do things differently, we rebel against traditional business advice which is just as well as we are living in a very different world now.

“Now’s actually the best time to be starting up. Everything has changed, the world has been shaken up and people who get moving can take advantage of the new situation,” he says.

Cllr Paul Swaddle, Cabinet Member for Finance and Smart Cities at Westminster City Council said:

“By supporting this important project, we are providing a boost to all those businesses which are in their infancy across the city to thrive and be successful. This project with Rebel Business School can help support us in our goal in making Westminster a City For All, and that all of our residents, no matter what their background or financial status, can create and build a successful business.”

The Westminster Rebel Business School is available free of charge to participants, through sponsorship and funding from Westminster City Council. You can book a free place via the Rebel Business School website: https://therebelschool.com/westminster/  

About the Rebel Business School

Rebel Business School was founded in 2010 by Alan Donegan and Simon Paine and helps people from all walks of life to start their own businesses. Its mission is to change the way entrepreneurship is taught across the world. It has educated over 15,000 people in seven different countries through free events and helped launch 805 businesses in 2020 alone. 

In 2021, the company won a Queen’s Award in the Promoting Opportunity category and its work has been backed by organisations including Google, Henley Business School and the Department for Work and Pensions. 

The Rebel Business School is the best business advice that money can’t buy – all of its events are free.