Organisations providing youth coaching, DJ training and historic transport model kits have all won the £10,000 top prize in the Business & Intellectual Property Centre Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (BIPC) annual Jumpstart awards.
BIPC, run by Cambridgeshire County Council’s library service, offers free and low-cost business support and advice to start-up business owners, entrepreneurs, and inventors across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
The 2023/24 programme was three times bigger than in previous years thanks to funding from the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund via Huntingdonshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.
Businesses had to pitch to a panel of judges for a share of £75,000 of funding.
Platinum, gold, silver and bronze winners were then chosen for Huntingdonshire, South Cambridgeshire, and all other district areas (Cambridge City, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and Peterborough).
The winners were presented with their prizes at a special ceremony at the Delta Hotels by Marriott in Huntingdon on Wednesday 6 March.
(Full list of all Cambridgeshire winners is at the foot of this article)
Karla Polk, who runs Rewind DJ School in Cambridge, was a platinum winner.
She received the £10,000 grant for her business, which delivers inclusive DJ workshops in collaboration with organisations for youth projects, alternative provisions, colleges, and other community events.
She said: “I’m so pleased to have been selected to receive a £10,000 grant. I never expected this when I applied to the Jumpstart programme.
“I’ve been a DJ and producer since 2006 and the business has been a huge passion-project for me.
“This money will help me to reach more young people with an interest in mixing music.”
The other platinum winners, receiving £10,000 of the prize money, were David Duker, who runs RISE Youth Coaching in Huntingdonshire and Chris Jefferson who runs Retro Mold in South Cambridgeshire.
There were also three gold winners, who were each awarded £6,000, three silver winners who were awarded £4,000 and 15 bronze winners who were awarded £1,000.
Cllr Tom Sanderson, chair of the Communities, Social Mobility and Inclusion Committee, said: “A huge congratulations to all the winners in this year’s Jumpstart programme.
“Setting up a business can be a daunting task, but we hope this prize money goes some way to helping all of them thrive.
“We look forward to seeing how others benefit from their services across Cambridgeshire over the coming years.”
Platinum, Gold and Silver Jumpstart winners for 2024
Huntingdonshire cohort
Platinum Winner – £10K grant: David Duker – RISE. Youth Coaching. Through trusted coaching techniques, we empower young people to rise to their challenges and build a future full of possibility.
Gold Winner – £6K grant: Matthew and Sarah-Jane Hilton – Brimstone Energy. We help clients navigate the Green Energy Transition; living by our values of Trust, Integrity & Quality and treating the customer’s home as a holistic system, we help people minimise their energy demands on the one hand, and maximise their adoption of smart green technologies on the other hand, thereby saving money and saving the planet.
Silver Winner – £4K grant: Christine Smith – Black Barn Ceramics & Glass. A creative Art Glass & Ceramics manufacturing workshop, funded by various income streams such as sales and teaching.
South Cambridgeshire cohort
Platinum Winner – £10K grant: Chris Jefferson – Retro Mold. An arts and craft business using models based on historic forms of transport to be sold online and via personal selling. The model kits can also be used as therapeutic and educational resources in the community.
Gold Winner – £6K grant: Miae Roh & Suliman Boulos – Puddle Technology. Developing an innovative medical device
Silver Winner – £4K grant: Karl Lattion & Kelly Game – Highland Cow Cottage Limited. We offer highland themed cow afternoon teas, education on cattle and visits, where people are travelling from all over the UK to see our fur babies.
All other districts (Cambridge City, East Cambs, Fenland and Peterborough) cohort
Platinum Winner – £10K grant: Karla Polk – Rewind DJ School delivers inclusive DJ workshops taught by an experienced professional DJ in collaboration with organisations for youth projects, alternative provisions, colleges, and other community events.
Gold Winner – £6K grant: Tasnime Rotherham and Raziya Jennings. MumTas. A mother and daughter who share a deep love for South Asian street food and the vibrant culinary heritage of Uganda have collaborated to craft an exceptional and flavourful vegan culinary adventure for everyone to enjoy.
Silver Winner – £4K grant: Sally Field & Ingrid Fawcett. Midlife360 CIC is an innovative Social Enterprise designed to support women in midlife to thrive in work within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Bronze winners
Huntingdonshire cohort
£1K grant: Andrew House & Marlo Gilbert – River & Raven CIC. A conscious and connection coffee shop, a teaching space for and provider of wellbeing practices and retailing supporting products.
£1K grant: Nathanael Spalding – Bright Circle Learning. We build positive futures through creative learning.
£1K grant: Sharon Lapao – Parent Evolution. Coaching support for Parents and Carers.
£1K grant: Chris Uff – Demochanics. A training company that teaches sales professionals how to deliver highly effective customer facing product demonstrations.
£1K grant: Ramune Mimiene & Auguste Mimaite – LazyCatKis. Planning on making sustainable cat homes from ethically sourced materials which are to be handmade using boxes, tape, sisal scratcher rope that could be added in any corners to ensure that our pets (in this case cats) do not destroy furniture.
South Cambridgeshire cohort
£1K grant: Leanne Orlebar – MagNoPlay. A children’s imaginative toy that saves space and has multiple purposes.
£2K grant: Nicola Allen – Cambridge Microgreens. I have an urban farm and I am a primary producer of microgreens, that I grow, harvest and sell to local restaurants, hotels and individual customers.
£2K grant: Rafmary Maria Millan Reyes Baker – Cambridge Business Online. An early-stage educational enterprise operating in South Cambridgeshire, taking on the challenge of bringing ‘future skills’ for all. We will achieve this through skills training, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and careers support for those aiming to gracefully surf this wave of digital transformation, also known as the fourth industrial revolution.
All other districts (Cambridge City, East Cambs, Fenland and Peterborough) cohort
£1K grant: Ayyaz Kauser – Medical Forms & Notes. Taxi and D4 medical forms completed as well as assistance with explaining medical notes.
£1K grant: Jasmin Bannister & David Oliver Cortadellas – Rakun Ltd. An e-commerce luxury and sustainable clothing brand using tech to inspire a community of forward-thinking minds.
£1K grant: Natasha Brockman – Brockman Media. Providing professional and affordable creative services for small businesses and startups to help establish their brand, services and products in the competitive digital landscape.
£1K grant: Nick Lancaster – Upable. “If Dragon’s Den and Kickstarter met on Tinder and procreated.”
£1K grant: Robyn Wilton – Bleed On It. Digestible information on menstrual health and living cyclically via events, workshops and supper clubs.
FACT FILE
Jumpstart is a programme offering grants, resources and support designed to help start-up businesses jump-start. It aims to help start-up and pre-start businesses move forward with confidence, while also acknowledging that funding is often crucial to these businesses.
The programme was open to entrepreneurs and start-up business owners already operating, or planning to start, a business based in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
This year the programme was three times as big as previous years thanks to funding by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. £50K worth of funding was delivered by the Business & IP Centre Cambridgeshire & Peterborough on behalf of Huntingdonshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.
