COURAGEOUS go-it-alone business people from east Kent have celebrated their first success. Five from Ramsgate and Margate who were among the first to be selected for the government-backed New Entrepreneur Scholarship scheme were presented with awards.

David Alexander, Fred Hoblyn, Andrew Keely and Leigh Wigg, from Margate, and Alistair Fraser from Ramsgate were among 20 scholars from Kent and Sussex attending the ceremony at Canterbury Business School. They have each spent around six months receiving advice, formulating a business plan, and in some cases, getting their business off the ground. A wide range of enterprises includes exotic bird breeding, outside catering, retail fashion, play therapy and a mobile creche.

The scheme, run by a partnership of Canterbury Business School, the Enterprise Agency of East Kent, The Prince's Trust and Eastbourne and District Enterprise Agency, aims to help people living in hard-pressed areas of Thanet, Dover, Hastings and Brighton set up their own business. Kent Messenger Group business editor Trevor Sturgess presented the framed certificates. "It is not easy taking the first step and then building a business that earns enough to pay enough to live on," he said.

Some 30 scholars from east Kent and east Sussex who are taking their first steps along a similar road to business start-up watched the ceremony. Those who complete an approved business plan are entitled to business advice and up to £3,500 in government cash. More details about the scheme are available from Janice Sandwell of the Enterprise Agency of East Kent on 01843 233420.