Focus: Social enterprise investing in start-ups
Tim Campbell, 31
Company: The Bright Ideas Trust
Web: www.brightideastrust.com
Tim Campbell has come a long way since winning the first series of The Apprentice. Last year, he left his six-figure salary job at Amstrad to launch The Bright Ideas Trust, and it’s proving to be a triumph. Supported by a range of corporate partners, the trust aims to unlock the entrepreneurial talent in Britain’s young people, aged 16-30, by investing in their business ideas in return for an equity stake. Unlike other VCs, any return goes back to the trust to help other young start-ups. One of the government’s social enterprise ambassadors, Campbell has already attracted funding from some of the UK’s biggest companies to kick-start the venture, while trustees include The Big Issue chairman Nigel Kershaw and restaurateur Iqbal Wahhab.
2016 update:
Since January 2013, The Bright Ideas Trust has been a delivery partner of the government’s Start Up Loans Scheme – a programme that offers finance, mentoring and support to entrepreneurs. Around the same time, Campbell took up the position of head of client services and emerging talent at talent acquisition and management services provider Alexander Mann solutions. As of January 2015, Bright Ideas trust had helped more than 150 start-ups secure funding worth up to £1.5m.
