Residents hoping to become successful entrepreneurs pitched business ideas inside High Wycombe’s “Dragons' Den” this week.

A group of 15 people were given advice and encouragement from the four “dragons” as they tried to convince them that their proposals deserved extra investment and support.

The all-day 'Dragons' Den’ style event, at Buckinghamshire New University on Wednesday, was the culmination of ‘Strive’, a programme of free training for would-be entrepreneurs, that has been running in High Wycombe this year.

The scheme was funded jointly by a partnership of Buckinghamshire County Council's High Wycombe Local Area Forum, Thames Valley Housing, Home Group housing and Marsh and Micklefield Big Local, a lottery-funded community trust. Each organisation is contributing about £3,000 towards the overall project.

The panel of 'dragons' on Wednesday included: Philippa Batting, MD of Buckinghamshire Business First representing Buckinghamshire County Council; David Clayton-Smith, Chair of the board of Thames Valley Housing; Andrea Thorn, Assistant Director of Customer Services South at Home Group; and Ashwinder Sura of Marsh and Micklefield Big Local.

Yemi Ogunekun, 33, of Wycombe Marsh, was previously a full-time mortgage advisor but has changed career to set up in business from her home, making bespoke cakes for all occasions.

She said: “I began two years ago baking from home for friends and family but had such good feedback that I decided to put it on a business footing.

“Thanks to this course, I now have the confidence to formally launch it and I will be hopefully up and running by August. It will be called Yumi Yemi Cakes.

“The course taught me a lot about marketing and understanding my product. Because I previously baked for friends and family, I didn’t look at costs and time. This course has taught me to be more business-like.”

High Wycombe-born student Jessica Dowdy, 21, now of Prestwood, is setting up a planning and development consultancy. She is currently studying construction project management at Oxford Brookes University.

She said: “I always wanted to have my own business but I didn’t know enough about the fundamentals of how you set up a business and run it, and by chance I came across the article about this course in the Bucks Free Press and decided to join up.

“The process has been invaluable for my knowledge and experience in setting up a business, and the help I have been given has been exceptional. I now feel ready to launch the business and look forward to the next stage of my career.”

Maria Sanchez, 55, from Booker, is a feng shui designer. “I started practising feng shui 15 years ago while I was in full time work in children’s and adult social care, but I treated it more as a hobby. Now I am ready to launch it as a business.

“Feng shui, which means wind and water, is the movement and balance of energies to suit the individual’s home and their specific needs.

“My hope is to become a successful small business, and this course has given me the confidence. I thought the feedback and advice from the dragons at the event was great.”