(c) Alicia Stewart-Colvin
Since 2004, the Young Creative Entrepremeur (YCE) programme has connected nearly 500 inspirational business founders from 54 countries with international opportunities.
We believe that these young creative businesses and the people behind them are shaping the future. By connecting them to the UK and to each other they have formed a powerful network of individual changemakers with creative excellence at the forefront of their vision.
Our unique way of bringing international talent together has created numerous global collaborations. Three publishing YCEs formed The Digital Minds Network after meeting on the UK tour. In fashion, UK YCE Justin Smith and Indonesian YCE Oscar Lawalata created an inspirational collaboration for Jakarta Fashion Week 2013.
YCE has also identified new leaders whose influence goes beyond their businesses. YCE Ridwan Kamil is now Mayor of Indonesia creative powerhouse city Bandung. Using contacts made during the YCE tour, Dana Kleinert founded the Slovak Fashion Council and Linda Speldwinde the Sri Lankan Design Festival. Uche Pedro, YCE 2013 was subsequently named one of Africa’s leading young entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine.
YCE has been made possible with the support of key partners, such as The London Book Fair, The Great Escape and Remix.
Check out some more of our game changing YCE alumni network here:
Moises Hernandez
YCE Winner
Moises is the founder of Diario, a brand that redesigns everyday Mexican objects.
Salem Al-Qassimi
YCE
Salem Al-Qassimi is the founder of Fikra—a multidisciplinary design studio providing bilingual graphic design solutions in Arabic and English, a service completely unique to this region. Fikra works in print and new media in the intersections of Islamic heritage, cultural traditions, and contemporary life.
Kerem Alper
YCE
Kerem Alper is the co-founder of ATÖLYE Istanbul a creative community space, which promotes collaborative working.
Nokulunga Mateta-Phiri
YCE Winner
Nokulunga Mateta-Phiri is the Managing Director at Creative Nestlings, an R&D company focused on growing the creative industry and championing emerging creatives.
Zuzanna Stańska
YCE Winner
Zuzanna is an art historian, founder of Moiseum (www.moiseum.com). Moiseum is a mobile and creative consultancy for museums and cultural institutions, building mostly mobile apps.
Tatiana Rais
YCE Winner
Tatiana Rais is the Director and founding member of Espacio Odeón: Centro Cultural, a non-profit cultural centre in the heart of Bogota.
Bruno Natal
YCE Winner
Bruno Natal is the owner of Queremos, one of the most prolific start-ups in Brazil, providing top solutions for both international and local bands seeking new live touring opportunities.
Manolo Arango
YCE Winner
Manolo is one of the founders of Breakfast Club - a company dedicated to creating entertainment experiences inspired by a passion for music, art and fashion.
Robin Malau
YCE Winner
Robin is the founder and CEO Musikator, Indonesia’s first music think tank that aims to foster the growth of Indonesia’s new music ecosystem.
Dominique Soma
YCE Winner
Dominique Soma is one of the founders of WeHeartBeat, a monthly South African event exploring the world of electronic Hip Hop, Jazz, Soul and Instrumentals.
Toby Langley
YCE Winner
Toby Langley was an early bloomer – having founded Rockfeedback aged 15, he was already making waves in the music and live events industry before even finishing school.
Jay Miller
YCE
Converted from a dormant warehouse, The Yard is a multi-award winning theatre, bar and kitchen located just minutes from the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.
Johanna Pinzon Rodriguez
YCE Winner
Poliedro started in 2012 in Bogotá. The company has two branches: the Poliedro Foundation, working on design and content development projects for the arts with a focus on innovation and tech culture; and Poliedro Digital SAS, an agency offering creative digital solutions for brands, including e-books.
Ricardo Almeida
YCE Winner
Ricardo Almeida is President at Clube de Autores, Brazil's first and largest self publishing company. Ricardo was also the winner of International Digital Publishing Entrepreneur of the Year Award at London Book Fair in 2014
Dai Qin
YCE
In 2012 Qin and her team started the digital publishing/reading service, Douban Read. The platform encourages non-professional writers to publish their non-fiction works. The Douban Read app, has been downloaded by more than 4 million users, with 400,000 actively using it per month.
Uno DeWaal
YCE Winner
Uno is the founder and owner of Between 10and5, South Africa's largest online creative showcase. While not a traditional creative himself (he says he can't draw to save his life!), he is passionate about the problem solving and solution process behind creative thinking. His plans for 10and5 stretch beyond just a publishing business and aims to grow into a single point of reference for all creative output in South Africa.
Peter Gerard
YCE Winner
Peter Gerrard who founded the ground-breaking digital film distribution platform Distrify. Peter was named as one of ten British Council Creative Entrepreneurs in the 2013 h club 100 and will be visiting Nigeria with the British Council in April 2014 to connect with Nigerian entrepreneurs and the creative scene in Lagos.
Jenny Griffiths
YCE Winner
Jenny is a fashion innovator, owner of Snap Fashion, and one of the winners of the British Council Creative Entrepreneur Awards in the 2013 h club 100.
Sara Melin
YCE
The Poundshop is run by George Wu and Sara Melin. Founded in April 2010 together with Sarah Gottlieb, the idea was born during a discussion about love for design shops. What started as a whim, turned into a real business - the first design poundshop.
George Wu
YCE
The Poundshop is run by George Wu and Sara Melin. Founded in April 2010 together with Sarah Gottlieb, the idea was born during a discussion about love for design shops. What started as a whim, turned into a real business - the first design poundshop.
Nikhil Shah
YCE
Nikhil Shah, co-founder of Mixcloud and independent record label ManMakeMusic, is part of the British Council's Creative Entrepreneur network.
Andrés Morán
YCE Winner
Andrés is the Founder of Nutshell Studio, a B2B agency that uses digital content to help existing brands find new ways to communicate in a crowded Internet. He describes himself as a “Digital Content Booster” as he uses digital content to strengthen existing brands and to launch new brands in association with Colombian content-makers.
Marcos Ferreira
YCE Winner
Marcos is the CEO of mobCONTENT, focusing on the production of VAS (Value Added Service) content for new platforms. He was a pioneer in VAS content distribution to all Brazilian mobile phone operators.
Uche Pedro
YCE Winner
Uche Pedro has most recently been named as one of the '30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs In Africa in 2014' by Forbes. She is the Managing Director of BellaNaija and Creative Director of BellaNaija.com, an online company that develops and manages exciting online media content aimed at Pan-African and Nigerian audiences.
Nhat Linh Phan Gia
YCE
Nhat Linh, Founder, Yxine Film Fest