The initiative aims to connect business owners and employees aged between 18 and 35 with like-minded people, develop their skills and open doors to new opportunities.
It features a series of networking events and educational workshops led by a range of East Midlands-based companies and specialist advisers.
This will now include contributors from Nottingham University Business School, offering their expertise to help Generation Next members produce better businesses and ideas that enable the region to thrive.
Lucy Robinson, East Midlands Chamber’s director of resources and Generation Next lead, said: “We are delighted to have Nottingham University Business School on board as a partner of Generation Next.
“Our visions are aligned in the sense that we want to retain young talent in the region and the university already does fantastic work in encouraging entrepreneurship through schemes such as its start-up incubator, the Ingenuity Lab.
“I’m really looking forward to working with the team at the Business School, and the wider university, to sharpen our offering with their academic perspective.”
Nottingham University Business School is an international higher-education provider at the University of Nottingham. It specialises in finance and management education and is a pioneer in entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability.
Through its Ingenuity Lab, the Business School helps students and alumni grow their ideas into start-up businesses and social enterprises. It gives members, including students and alumni, access to peer-mentoring from successful start-ups grown in the lab, alongside coaching and business advice from experienced entrepreneurs, specialist consultants and in-house advisers.
Students at the Business School and members of the university’s Ingenuity Lab will also have access to places on the Generation Next membership service.
Nottingham University Business School, a patron of the Chamber, is also sponsoring the Breakthrough Award category in the inaugural Generation Next Awards celebrating regional businesses who are growing profitably.
Professor Duncan Angwin, Dean of Nottingham University Business School, said: “We are delighted to be able to actively support the development of future business leaders in our region. It is critical for them to be able to get the business fundamentals right to enable firms to be financially strong and achieve sustainable growth, particularly during the post-pandemic recovery.
“Generation Next will benefit from the Business School’s unique global presence and perspective, with access to world-leading academic insights. We are looking forward to working collaboratively with local business leaders to address the challenges of the future.”
To become a member of the network, visit https://generationnextemc.co.uk/become-a-member/ or email the team at gennext@emc-dnl.co.uk You can also keep up to date with the network via LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
