Chichester Community Development Trust (CCDT) will be supporting 20 women from the Chichester district for 3 months helping them to start up their own business, thanks to funds secured from ESF Community Grants, as they launch a new programme of Discover Your Future.  Designed to help those in greatest need at this difficult time, the project will support women who are not currently in any employment or education, coaching and training them in key skills needed to start up on their own and become self-sufficient. 

Following on from the success of the pilot programme undertaken in 2019/20, the team at CCDT are excited to be able to develop the project even further.  Each of the 20 women who secure a place on the programme will be partnered with a one-to-one mentor to support them throughout the three months. A programme of 3 months skills workshops in everything from confidence to marketing and accounting will be delivered, as well as peer-to-peer mentoring – supporting each other and coaching each other as they go through the process of discovery.  The programme will begin in September 2024 and we are looking for people to sign up to it now! 

The programme is open to women across the Chichester district, and will cater for any social distancing or shielding required by those participating, providing virtual and online access to mentoring and workshops where it is not possible to bring the cohort together.  Once regulations allow the candidates will also have the opportunity to use the facilities of the CCDT office, located in Graylingwell Park, as part of their business development.

The pilot programme supported 20 women to build and develop business ideas that varied from hairdressing and stand-up comedy to life coaching and the development of a social media and web platforms.  What proved most successful was providing the advice and guidance of experts in the field that otherwise wouldn’t be open to them, but also creating a sense of real community between all the women who were involved.  They shared advice and contacts, reviewed each other’s products and marketing concepts provided invaluable feedback and advice but most importantly were there to support each other, cheering each other on.

Comments Clare de Bathe, CCDT Director, “It can be an overwhelming and lonely experience setting up your own business, and this wonderful programme helps to take away so many of the fears when going into it.  The women on Discover Your Future need not feel alone or worry that they don’t have all of the skills required to launch a new business because at every step there will be somebody there to guide them.  Everybody has had to reflect on how they would like to work in the future during lockdown, having been confined to our homes for so long, and we are so excited that with this initiative we can make the dreams some have made a reality, giving them the perfect building blocks for future success.”

To find out more and register your interest, please email: community@chichestercdt.org.uk