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East End promise: Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship open for business

Wednesday 25 March 2009

L to R: Jack Petchey, Acting Vice Chancellor or UEL Professor Susan Price and Chair of the LDA, Harvey McGrath

An innovative centre that combines enterprise development, teaching, research, mentoring and community outreach to help budding entrepreneurs is now up and running as part of UEL's Business School and Knowledge Dock on the waterfront of the Royal Docks. The Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship was formally launched on 25 March by entrepreneur and philanthropist Jack Petchey, along with Professor Susan Price and Harvey McGrath, Chair of the London Development Agency.

Focusing on fostering young people's enterpreneurship, the centre has been set up with the support of a £500,000 donation from the Jack Petchey Foundation.

Jack Petchey OBE is one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs. Growing up in East London, he started out in 1948 with a one-man cab service on the Royal Docks, and he has since built a multi-million pound business. In 1999, he set up the Jack Petchey Foundation, which has since donated over £50million to schools, clubs and projects which benefit young people in London.

Speaking at the launch, he said: “Becoming an entrepreneur is an ambition in the heart and if young people already have the desire, we can help them transfer that into a managed, structured system."

“I am proud to support this fantastic new facility, which will give young people in East London access to some of the resources they need to succeed with their enterprises. Our Foundation encourages young people to achieve great things, and I fully expect those who are using this Centre to have a positive effect on our community and our economy in the future.”

Knowledge Dock already works with over 2,000 businesses and supports start-up activity through a wide range of business support services, including ‘HotHatch’, which will be located within the new Petchey Centre. The new centre will benefit from Knowledge Dock’s European business links and build on its impressive track record in enterprise development.

Harvey McGrath, Chair of the London Development Agency said: “I am delighted to celebrate Jack Petchey's continued generosity . UEL is doing fantastic work in the East End and its regeneration, which is not just about improving the physical landscape, but also about providing opportunities for young people towards achieving commercial success. UEL winning Business Innovation Centre status is a major achievement - and puts the university on the map not only nationally, but Europe-wide."

Based at UEL’s Business School and Knowledge Dock, which was recently named as the only EU-accredited Business Innovation Centre (BIC) in London, the Centre will be a hub of research into entrepreneurship and the wider economy, especially the regeneration of London and the Thames Gateway.

Professor Len Shackleton, Dean of the Business School at UEL said: “The Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship will engage in a research programme covering topics relevant to the current market and use our expertise to develop sustainable business models that take account of economic conditions.”

Professor Susan Price, UEL's acting vice-chancellor, said: “UEL is about transforming lives and affecting positive change, and working with our partners we can support our students and local communities, to help make this happen.”

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Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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