Venture capitalist Pippa Lamb and HelloFresh co-founder Hamish Shephard have launched Project Ambition, a campaign aimed at encouraging more young people in Britain to start their own companies.
The move follows another initiative launched by FirstMinute Capital founders Brent Hoberman, dubbed Enterprise Britain.
The initiative was unveiled at 10 Downing Street during London Tech Week, bringing together emerging talent from technology, science, business, music, art, film, sport and fashion with established entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders.
Its Instagram page, which currently features no posts at all, features a number of young founders from a wide variety of sectors.
Project Ambition’s page says launch marks the start of a wider programme focused on youth empowerment and rebuilding a culture in which entrepreneurial ambition is publicly encouraged.
The organisation argues that the UK has no shortage of talent, but has lost some of the culture that celebrates risk-taking, hard work and high achievement.
“Britain has produced world-class excellence across multiple fields for centuries. There is nothing outdated about being proud of that,” said Lamb said in a post on LinkedIn.
“The task now is to make it cool again to aim high, work hard, take risks and defy the odds.” She said the UK is not lacking talent, but it is “lacking a culture that celebrates ambition”.
The campaign plans to showcase promising young Britons alongside globally recognised founders, creators and pioneers, with the aim of providing visible role models for the next generation.
The launch was supported by the presence of figures from technology and venture capital, including GV partner Tom Hulme, Spark Capital partner Yasmin Razavi, Entrepreneur First co-founder Matt Clifford, Balderton Capital partner James Wise, Founders Fund partner Trae Stephens and Phoenix Court founder Saul Klein. The event was hosted by Downing Street business adviser Varun Chandra.
