Wendy Nikolaidis, Manager of Northampton’s Portfolio Innovation Centre, cultivates corporate talent in the region by supporting businesses in the design, digital and creative sector …
At the Portfolio Innovation Centre Wendy Nikolaidis supports, advises and nurtures all her tenants – providing new creative, design and digital businesses with a place to call home.
The Centre, designed to promote innovation and nurture creative talent in the region, offers its tenants affordable rent, flexible leases, a home amongst like minded entrepreneurs and access to the University’s expertise and facilities.
For Wendy her pivotal role at the Centre is the perfect culmination of years of creative and corporate experience. As Manager of the Innovation Centre – which is based at Te University of Northampton’s Avenue Campus - she can now inspire others, nurture new talent and help put Northampton on the creative map.
“Drama and media were my passions at University and, after graduating, I spent eight years as a stage and floor manager for independent TV stations, including London Weekend, Anglia and the BBC,” recalled Wendy. “I worked on programmes such as Top of the Pops and The Gentle Touch, but gave it all up after falling in love, moving to Greece and having two children.
“When I returned to England four years later I taught drama to primary schoolchildren, started my own catering company and then became Development Officer at Chipping Norton Theatre, where I raised thousands of pounds and worked with local businesses to encourage children into the theatre.
When Oxmedia Network was set up by Oxford Innovation to support businesses in the media Wendy was asked to run this. She organised networking events, put companies in touch with the people they needed to know, developed the website and was tasked with helping these media companies thrive and grow.
“I also traveled across Europe and helped develop a strategy for innovation in countries such as Palestine,” added Wendy.
Later Wendy went on to work Oxford Brookes University as the Business Development Manger for its School of the Arts, where the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies is based.
It was Wendy’s unique combination of creative and corporate experience that impressed The University of Northampton when they were looking for someone to head up their all new Portfolio Innovation Centre.
“When I got the job my first challenge was to help develop the physical building. I chose every piece of furniture in the Centre, did a lot of shopping with other people’s money and opened the Centre in May 2006, at which time we had two tenants.”
Since then the Centre has gone on to support more than 25 new tenants from the creative, design and digital sector and the Centre has recently expanded three fold in size – and has rooms and studios for 46 businesses.
“One of my roles now is to meet and assess new potential tenants,” explained Wendy. “I have developed an instinct about the entrepreneurial spirit in someone, something that even the best business plan can not tell you. It is really important for me to know that a potential tenant will have a truly entrepreneurial streak and that they will fit in with other tenants. The sense of community here is important. Our businesses are able to learn from each other, share contacts and cross refer work.”
Businesses based at the Portfolio Innovation Centre include established and start up companies, including photographers, fine artists and software developers, as well as product designers, web optimisers, computer game developers and screen printers.
“In a way I am mother hen here,” laughed Wendy. “I help these businesses grow and I get my greatest satisfaction from helping others succeed. Quite simply, their success is my motivation. I also act as the link between the Centre and the University, helping tenants access the University’s expertise, equipment and facilities.”
The ultimate aim of the Centre is to develop the region’s creative sector and help companies get to the stage where they are independent and no longer need the space the Centre provides. Many become virtual tenants when they end their leases, continuing to use the Centre as their business address and able to pop in 24/7 without actually needing an office.
Wendy said: “Portfolio Innovation Centre isn’t about helping a handful of business. It is about creating a burgeoning, successful creative sector in the region. It is about helping create jobs in the creative, design and digital sector, and about ensuring that our most talented entrepreneurs do not have to move to London for job opportunities. They can stay right here in Northamptonshire.”