Welcome
PRIME provides free information, events and training to help you start your own business or become self-employed. You can sign up for a free start-up pack and our regular business newsletters here (opens in new window).
HRH The Prince of Wales, Founder and President of PRIME
The start-up pack contains our Working for Yourself guide, ideas on finding the right business idea and other fact sheets on getting back to work by becoming self-employed. You can find PRIME partners who offer free or low-cost support, business advice or training here or by clicking on the UK map in the right-hand column.
PRIME (the Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise) is a charity founded by Prince Charles. “The experience and skills which people build up over a lifetime are an invaluable resource”, he says. “It is madness for society not to make use of this.”
People of any age can set up in business and work for themselves – but it’s particularly useful for the over 50s as there are not a lot of other options when unemployment strikes. Despite legislation supposedly outlawing age discrimination, older people still face difficulty finding an employer willing even to give them an interview, let alone a job. So getting back into work once you are become unemployed or redundant over a certain age can be a struggle.
Finding your way around this site
The home page shows a selection of courses, seminars or training events at the top, with stories of lots of real people who have gone ahead and started up their own businesses after the age of 50 further down the page. To find a specific item use the search box at top right, or to see the most recent items go to News.
PRIME’s service promise can be found here. There’s more about the charity itself at About PRIME, and at our other web site www.prime.org.uk.
PRIME is one of 18 charities founded on the personal initiative of HRH The Prince of Wales. You can read about all the charities at the Prince’s Charities web site.
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