Dick Palmer, left, City College principal sits with Gazelle entrepreneurs Priya Lakhani and Ben Ramsden as they listen to Tom Hollick, president of the Students Union, in the Dragons Den Studio; part of the new facility at City College - the Start-up Lounge.

Norwich was today hailed as the birthplace of a new entrepreneurial education system for the next generation as the City College’s new StartUp Lounge officially opened for business.

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The new state of the are facility is designed to help the college’s 14,000 students develop the skills they need to set up their own businesses or give them the edge when it comes to getting a job.

The aim is to create an environment where business ideas can be formed and then developed and there is even a Dragon’s Den style studio where students can practice making pitches to potential investors.

The official opening which featured speeches from Gazelle entrepreneurs Priya Lakhani and Ben Ramsden, saw students present their business ideas during a special market place.

College principal Dick Palmer said the StartUp Lounge sits alongside the new Gazelle initiative, which is being backed by the college and four other colleges across the country to work with leading entrepreneurs to help embed an “entrepreneurial mindset” among young people.

“Today isn’t the end of our journey, it’s quite the opposite,” he said. “It’s the start of a significant milestone in the development of something to believe is really quite large.”

Priya

“I am quite overwhelmed at this whole space, it’s not what I was expecting at all, it’s absolutely incredible

Quite often a lot of successful businesses are started by people who have had further education

If you are waiting for that light bulb ‘ping’ moment, you should immerse

Tom Hollick, president of the college’s student union, said: “I think it’s fantastic. It’s a whole new approach to education and getting students involved. Rather than just going through education and then trying to get a job, it’s giving students a proper entreprenuerial foundation.”