EmzCakes- Becoming part of the business community

TestTown People: EmzCakes Creative Cafe- Becoming Part Of The Business Community

Participants

Emma Wilson, EmzCakes Creative Café.

About the project

emzcakes-creative-cafe-mccredieTaking part in TestTown Dunfermline gave Emma the confidence and belief that her idea for a creative cake café could work in her home town of Wexford. ‘I learned so much in that one week, it was an amazing experience and I truly would not be where I am now without it.’ After eight months of working, she managed to save enough money to open and has not looked back since. EmzCakes Creative Café now employs five people and has become a valued part of Wrexham. Spurred on by her own difficulties in finding support and guidance when going through the journey of opening a shop, Emma has become involved in a new community interest group called ‘The Wrexham Business Group’.

“I learned so much in that one week, it was an amazing experience and I truly would not be where I am now without it.”

This has been set up by and for Wrexham’s traders, to allow them to speak with one strong voice, to work together to promote the town and to provide moral support, advice and practical help between one another. To date, they have set up their own pop-up street festival, helped members claim rate-relief, set up their own online high street Virtual Wrexham ( www.virtual-wrexham.co.uk ) and mentored and supported young businesses opening up in Wrexham Centre- www.wrexhambusinessgroup.co.uk.

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Words of Advice

  • One of the main strengths for Rhyl was the engagement of the College with the community and the sense that we could work together to bring something significant to our area.

    TestTown 2014 Host

  • Have plenty of time to be on hand during trading as working with lots of stakeholders and businesses is very time consuming. It is key to manage the expectations of the participants e.g. they will not all make lots of money during their first day of trade.

    TestTown 2015 Host

  • You will never learn what we have learned this week in a college room or in a lecture hall, from a book or off the internet – it’s a real life experience and it has been invaluable.

    TestTown 2015 Participant

Highlights from the recent years

Five Ways To Supercharge Your TestTown

We believe there are five things which would Supercharge your TestTown:

  1. Every town should create a clear, supported pathway into trading and opening up a shop  for new town centre entrepreneurs.
  2. Every town should have a permanent pop-up facility in a viable trading space which offers flexible lease arrangements up to a year for new town centre entrepreneurs to learn.
  3. Every town should work, within their means, to reduce financial barriers in reduced rates and rents for new traders during their first year of business.
  4. Every town should carry out a regular (every five years) entrepreneur-led consultation which would feed into a business-led strategy for town centre development and business support.
  5. Every town should develop a hyperlocal cross-sector partnership to lead local innovation, ensuring that agencies, businesses, and residents are all powerful in leading local development.