A NEW business incubation scheme is giving a young Teesside entrepreneur a red hot start for his rapidly evolving IT firm.

Graduate, Simon Brown, 27, set up Chilli Media - a specialist new media design, development and print company - at the beginning of 2000 with a burning ambition to succeed in business by his 30th birthday, but with just £500 in capital.

After working from his bedroom with four other employees for the first year, Mr Brown heard about the Graduate Enterprise Support Programme at the University of Teesside, where he graduated, and immediately took advantage of its offer of a place in its business incubator on campus.

He said: "Having worked from home for so long, getting an official business address offered the perfect opportunity for me to add a further element of professionalism and set the groundwork for the company's next stage of growth."

In addition to free office space for a year, as part of the business incubation scheme, Mr Brown was also given the use of computers and access to the university's Bridges and Routes work placement scheme, providing a cost effective method of tapping into Teesside University's well of up and coming undergraduate talent.

Statistics prove that incubators, by offering expert advice and support, assist more than 80 per cent of their businesses to succeed after three years, as compared to the national average of less than 50 per cent of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) still being in existence after three years of trading.

Business incubators such as Teesside provide on-site support, advice, mentoring, services and office space for new businesses to help them through the critical start-up procedure. Incubation has helped Simon and his company

Just months after moving in to the Teesside Incubator, he is setting out on an expansion programme to bring in new business for Chilli Media from around the country.

Mr Brown said: "More than 80 per cent of our income is generated from referrals or repeat business with local firms, so I am currently spending a lot of my time in London, where I know there is huge potential for our services.

"When presenting to potential London clients, image is vitally important so having a fully staffed head office gives me a distinct advantage and takes me one step closer to my dream of running a national company by my 30th birthday."

University of Teesside's Julia Macfarlane said: "The North-East has a low birth rate for new business and the university is trying to help reverse this by encouraging graduates to start up in commerce on their own using business incubation support.

"The university has a total of 35 business units available for graduates - 21 have now been filled, but we are still looking for people with fresh, exciting ideas to take advantage of what we have on offer."

Malcolm Buckler, chief executive of UK Business Incubation (UKBI), said: "This is a great example of how business incubation can help a growing business to flourish, with the network of help and support an incubator can offer."

The University of Teesside is one of a growing number of members of UKBI, established in 1998 by the DTI and HM Treasury, to promote the benefits of business incubation to key decision makers.

* For further information on business incubation log onto the UKBI website at www.ukbi.co.uk