Dragon’s new course to unleash creative talent

Californian businessman Doug Richard’s School of Creative Start-Ups is already established in London.

But now he and Sheffield College are launching the programme in South Yorkshire.

The part-time course will run from January to September next year. Mr Richard said he wanted to be able to dispel the myth that creative or artistic people cannot be successful in business as entrepreneurs.

“There is an idea that being entrepreneurial somehow conflicts or limits somebody’s creativity but that is not true,” he said. Mr Richard claimed that in many cases talented creative people already have much of the skill they need to be able to start up their own businesses as they have passion and expertise in their field. He also warned policy-makers not to underestimate the importance of creativity.

He said: “The truth is that STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects and creative skills go together.

“Look at something like the iPhone. Yes, its a great piece of kit, but it is the creative work of the people who design apps which make it a success.”

Mr Richard said the course was open to entrepreneurs of all ages and that there was no reason why someone could not launch their own successful start-ups in their 40s or 50s.