I’m proud to be supporting the new YPHA initiative, LAUNCH SUCCESS
Many young professionals embarking on a career in industry, services or consumer goods rightly expect diverse skills training throughout their early career along with the experience and on the job training that comes with most junior management roles. A few years down the road and they will have accumulated knowledge, and probably qualifications too, in the wider aspects of running a business. From Finance and IT to Customer Service, Marketing, Human Resources and Project Planning as well as General Management.
It seems that in Horticulture, however, there’s a noticeable lack of formal training in many wider aspects of business. Young professionals in the sector may well have ample opportunity to hone their core skills in propagation, production or landscaping for example, but I don’t see a lot of evidence for wider training designed to develop general business acumen. If we are expecting these candidates to take on leadership roles in the future, I worry we are not equipping them properly. Companies will choose to parachute in middle and senior managers from the FMCG, Retail or Finance sectors in preference to Horticulture.
It’s a chink in our armour that the leadership team at the Young Peoples Horticulture Association (YPHA) have spotted too and consequently they are embarking on a new and exciting project to provide ambitious young people in Horticulture with a unique opportunity to extend their professional business training. Think The Apprentice meets Dragon’s Den. Ten lucky candidates will take up a fully funded programme of training and mentoring over 12 months that will ultimately see them launch their own project into a live market environment. They will be exposed to every aspect of project and business management with coaches and training provided by industry professionals.
The project launches early 2024 and YPHA have already secured generous sponsorship from a range of companies who see the clear benefit of developing our own talent from within the sector. YPHA are already thinking about the legacy of the first year and how the Launch Success Challenge can provide a blueprint for the future route to professionalising business skills in Horticulture.
Right now, YPHA have the sponsorship in place to pay for ten young people drawn from any part of the industry to embark on the programme. But they need more support in the form of training venues, catering and transport to support the project through its first full year. Together with several other experienced industry figures, I’m delighted to be supporting the Launch Success Challenge. I hope others will be keen follow because this project is an investment in our future.
