Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp

The Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp, organised by Henley Enterprise Lab (HELAB), supported by Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship (HCfE) and run by the Rebel Business School, is a hands-on, week-long workshop event, held every year to give participants the confidence and skills to start a business and make money doing what they love.

Many students have ideas for a business that they would someday love to run, but it can feel overwhelming to know how to start a business from scratch. The Boot Camp helps attendees learn about setting up a business from the ground up over the course of a week. Each day of the Boot Camp focuses on a different key skill for any aspiring entrepreneur, from building a website to outlining how to make sales, which gives participants the confidence and tools to start a business.

The Boot Camp, kindly sponsored by Westcoast Group, is completely free to join and is open for applications from all current students and alumni of Henley Business School and the University of Reading. Local residents in or around Reading are also welcome to apply for a place on the course.

The key dates for the 2024 Boot Camp are as follows:

- Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp 2024 opens for applications, 12 February 2024

- Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp 2024 closes for applications, 14 June 2024

- Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp 2024, 17-21 June 2024 10:00am to 4:00pm each day in room G15 of the Henley Business School building, Whiteknights campus

The 2023 Summer Start-Up Boot Camp was held online between 19-23 June 2023 and was a big success, with dozens of participants joining in and getting hands-on to create their businesses. Read the full news release here.

This is what attendees of the 2023 Summer Start-Up Boot Camp said about their experience of participating:

Yuzhou Zhang, BSc Finance student: "The content of the course was very practical and helped me find the direction to start a business. Thanks a lot!"

Sunil Babbar, Master of Business Administration alumnus: "It was a great opportunity to learn what we actually need to run a startup. We normally don’t cover this in our MBA courses."

Nathalie May, local resident: "This week has been amazing - so interesting and empowering. Even the tax stuff! I've gone from feeling that I'm never going to get beyond ideas to actually having the tools to start something. And no excuses. I've gained confidence and self-belief from being in the group all week with everyone. Simon is such a great teacher. I'd love to do further training with you guys. Huge thanks to everyone behind this programme. So grateful. I'm going to work hard now learning about websites and marketing on social media and start with some of my ideas."

The Rebel Business School provided an impact report on the 2023 Boot Camp, showcasing how participants benefited. Read the full report here.

Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp is led by the Rebel Business School.

Henley Summer Start-Up Boot Camp is generously sponsored by Westcoast.

Based in the Thames Valley, Westcoast partners with leading global tech brands to distribute IT products and solutions across the UK and Europe. Celebrating over 40 years of trading, we are delighted to support the Summer Start-Up Bootcamp again for 2024 and we look forward to supporting all the entrepreneurs as they progress through the course.