Page 151 - guidance-supporting-europe-s-aspiring-entrepreneurs-policy-and-practice-to-harness-future-potential

Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

Much of the guidance linked to private initiatives is informal and not
structured as such. It is practical, action-oriented and directly linked to the new
business, rather than guidance in a broader sense. There is also little evidence of
‘holistic’ support – addressing career management skills – although the contact
between the novice entrepreneurs and their mentor/coaches/investors is regular.
Biocant Business Park in Portugal provides a description of typical support
activities of a private seed funding company (see Example 36). It supports
researchers with projects at the ideas stage to develop their business strategies.

Example 36. Biocant Business Park, Portugal

Biocant Business Park, in the Coimbra region of Portugal, is the country’s first biotechnology
business park. The park also provides research services for pharmaceutical, diagnostic,
biotechnology, environmental and agricultural industries. Fifteen companies on the park employ
around 137 people, with a further 17 individuals involved in park administration. Established in 2006,
Biocant Ventures (BV) is a seed funding company that helps new entrepreneurs develop their
business and strategic plans, build their networks and develop links with investors and buyers. BV is
a partnership of three companies and it tests and validates early stage business ideas emerging
from biotechnology projects that cannot be legally supported by venture capitalists.
Typically, applicants present their idea or business plan to the BV management team, who
evaluate it and undertake a financial and commercial analysis. BV receives around 30 applications
per annum and is currently supporting six projects in the food industry, biomedical devices, drug
(pharmaceutical) discovery and analysis services.
BV supports researchers with projects at the ideas stage to develop their business strategies.
Much of the support provided is informal as the company does not provide ‘structured’ or ‘formal’
business mentoring, coaching or training. Support can help with:
• the logistics of setting up and operating a business;
• developing the skills needed to present their plans to potential investors;
• linking projects/start-ups to other companies (e.g. putting in place supply chain links).
The two BV directors spend around one day each per week, providing support to the start-up
projects/companies they are working with. New entrepreneurs can take part in publicly funded
entrepreneurial learning opportunities.
Entrepreneurs in receipt of funding from BV are usually young PhD graduates. Most are
working on their first commercial project; five are men and two are women.
To date only two projects have reached the commercial stage. These companies are currently
presenting their projects to companies for commercial investment so it is too soon to draw
conclusions about the effectiveness of BV support and its impact on start-up success or failure
rates.

The example from Portugal supports the finding that private companies
independently provide support to entrepreneurs, without funding, alongside their
main business activity: the directors of BV venture capital company evaluate
business ideas financially and commercially and commit one day per week to
support start-up companies and projects. This time commitment and company
knowledge of the sectors and markets involved is invaluable to entrepreneurs in
commercialising their ideas.

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