Neil Chamroo: My start-up journey

Final year BSc Business Management student Neil is addressing youth crime and anti-social behaviour problems with his social enterprise.

How it started…

After completing my A-levels, I enrolled at the University of Essex through Clearing to pursue a BSc in Business Management. I decided to study business because it had always been my favourite subject at school and, with a broad curriculum, I felt that it would offer a range of career options later on. I chose Essex because it has a great social life and has a reasonably cheaper cost of living than London, where I am from. Moving out of my hometown gave me more independence and allowed me to be open to new experiences.

During my first year, I came up with my initial start-up idea. I was looking for business mentors who could support me in the process. My department introduced me to Essex Startups, and I booked my first 1:1 with the Entrepreneur-in-Residence James Cracknell. I felt inspired and knew I wanted to return to the Innovation Centre after this first mentoring session. I signed-up for the newsletter and fully engaged with Essex Startups' offer, attending talks and workshops. I considered many business ideas before settling on my current start-up.

I started working on my current business in 2020 with the social purpose of addressing the issues of youth crime and violence. I grew up in a rural part of London, where there is a high rate of violence, especially among the youth population. Seeing crimes committed by people at such a young age and not using their potential affected me and how I looked at young criminals. I developed an emotional connection to these situations as they were happening too frequently. Even with so many social organisations in the area, nothing seemed to change. I realised that addressing these problems is my destiny.

In 2021, I got hands-on experience in mentoring during my placement year. I volunteered for the charity City Year, where I mentored secondary school students. I was using music as a tool to engage with the young people, but also discovering new ways of enriching my mentoring. Having my business idea in mind, I could conduct primary research on my potential offer and differentiation from other social organisations. During my internship, I gained a lot of experience in part-time teaching and was officially classified as a mentor. In August 2022, I registered a company.

How it's going…

I'm in the final year of my degree, and I already know that I love entrepreneurship and that it's the right route for me. My social enterprise tackles the problem of youth violence through effective mentoring for students aged 11 – 17. My programme includes career advice and insights into the music industry, focusing on rap. I target young people from the areas of London with higher levels of deprivation and their parents/carers. The company's name is Talk less do more, which is also my motto and main approach to mentoring. Young people face many challenges and won’t fulfil their potential without taking reasonable action. As a mentor I don't want only to hear it, I want to see some effort. I have found that staff members at other organisations often take interactions with students at face-value but fail to follow-up, which is not enough.

The Essex Startups' workshops helped me massively in developing my enterprise. I have learnt about every aspect of business organisation, including finance, branding, and bookkeeping. To receive a more personal approach, I attended 1:1s sessions with James. We recently covered building a social enterprise's legal structure, which was necessary for registering my company. I also took part in BE ME: Black and Ethnic Minority Founders programme. At the end of the programme, I had the opportunity to pitch my business idea for the first time. I could define and understand my business more as I had to explain the idea to an expert panel in just three minutes! It was a big test, but I successfully secured £1,000 of funding. The programme taught me how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. During the sessions, I was linking the content of the speakers' presentation to my business and thinking about how I could apply new knowledge into practice.

I am currently participating in the evolve Accelerator Programme, where we dissect each aspect of entrepreneurship with an experienced professional. I particularly liked the session by Ben Adams, who talked about the psychological side of entrepreneurship and explained what entrepreneurs go through emotionally while starting a business.

What's next…

My aim is to start trading in September this year (2023). I plan to start selling my programmes to schools and deliver sessions for students about music and career advice. Schools can also tailor the programme to their students' needs.

My business' ultimate goal is to significantly reduce the youth crime rate in Croydon. I want it to be my selling point and the face of my enterprise. I hope people will talk about how much Croydon has changed since the start of my activity. I would like to expand to different areas of London but making a change in Croydon will be my initial focus.

There is still a lot of work to do, it's not easy! I have realised that the more I want to succeed as an entrepreneur, the more effort I need to put into my social enterprise.

Words of wisdom…

Join Essex Startups! Talk to the team with an idea in mind to get as much as possible from their offer. Studio X is a safe space where people want to genuinely help you.

You should also be open to learning and learning from failures. During my start-up journey, I learnt that sometimes losing can be better than winning. Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who overcome failures, so don't make setbacks consume your ambition and goals. The Essex Startups team will help you build the resilience necessary for every entrepreneur.

Find out more

If you have a potential business idea, or are interested in developing your business skills, find out more about the training, events and support Essex Startups offers to current students and recent graduates.