THE founders of an award-winning Scottish brewery and a Welsh music promoter who has worked with Simon Cowell and The Who are supporting a campaign to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs in Wrexham.
James Watt and Martin Dickie, of BrewDog, and Aaron Kirkhouse, who set up Mint Gigs when he was 16 and still in school in Haverfordwest, will be involved in activities being held at Glyndwr University to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009.
The event, which runs until Sunday, will see Brewdog, which brews some of the UK’s strongest and unusually-titled real ales, judge a competition to design a Glyndwr Beer in an Apprentice-style competition.
Aaron Kirkhouse is spending a day at the university on Thursday, giving advice to students about entrepreneurship, judging a competition and sharing thoughts on the rise of his concert promotions business.
Aaron borrowed £50 from his mother to hire a local music venue to start his promotions venture, before securing Girls Aloud to play at a concert at Wales’ biggest theme park, Oakwood, when he was 18.
He went on to work at Harvey Goldsmith promoters in London and teamed up with X-Factor impresario Simon Cowell for a Music for Heroes event at the Royal Albert Hall.
Matthew Draycott, enterprise associate at Glyndwr University, said: “Enterprise is about thinking outside the box, recognising opportunities and turning them into something valuable.
"The success of both Aaron and Brewdog are fantastic examples of this to showcase to our students.
“Students are full of great business ideas and as a university we can help bring these to fruition. It’s a real coup for us to get such high profile, successful entrepreneurs on board and I’m sure their involvement will be a real inspiration to students.”
Other activities on offer to students this week includes a competition based around SimVenture, an award-winning business game which allows people to set up and run their own virtual firm – fast-tracking their business and entrepreneurship skills along the way.
An enterprise-themed talent night featuring local business startups Doodle Planet, an interactive art company, and cocktail makers Jay & J. Events rounds off the week’s events on Thursday.