THE Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise is helping over-50s in the Winchester area start their own business.

The first workshop takes place on Wednesday, February 20 in Age Concern’s Hampshire offices in St Cross Road, Winchester.

Lasting six to eight weeks, including three classroom days, the course takes people over the age of 50 through the challenging process of preparing to run their own business and covers areas such as researching a business idea, planning finances and how to market and sell a product or service.

Nick Bunting, The Prince’s Initiative’s chief executive, said: “Mature workers face a perfect storm of longer working lives, a pensions’ crisis, economic downturn and the uphill struggle to find employment once it is lost. Their experience is often sacrificed against cost.

“We help people respond positively and all the evidence shows that they make a success of it, still running businesses at the key one and three year stages.”