Success Stories: Enchanté Leeds Magazine

 

Enchanté Leeds Magazine is packed with high-quality photography, art, design and interesting articles – with some exclusive interviews thrown in for good measure.

Founders of the publication, Anna Newman and Laura Harris, are both graduates of Leeds Metropolitan University. Anna graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Property Management, and Laura a Bachelor of Arts in Photography and Digital Imaging. The combination of the degrees enables Enchanté to have a diverse range of expertise.

Enchanté Leeds magazine covers social issues in Leeds, fashion, music, food, travel and health. The magazine offers a wide range of content with a mix of different styles, which has led to some really positive feedback. They both admit that the drive to do something they enjoyed, as opposed to the financial incentives was the key factor in starting up.

The pair have benefited from the Business Start-Up scheme here at Leeds Metropolitan University in a number of ways, from workshops to mentor exchanges, all the way through to the proof of concept grant. Enchanté was awarded £1000 worth of funding through the grant to help with marketing and web design costs. Anna had this to say:


“The grant we received was invaluable to Enchanté as it really helped us to get off the ground. We also put some of the funding towards printing costs for our first issue, this was a huge milestone in the development of Enchanté Leeds. The feedback we gained from that enabled us to develop really fast. Leeds Met has been amazingly supportive to us throughout this whole period.”


Starting up on your own can be hard as well as rewarding and Laura says that they are learning new things every day:

“Every day surprises us! It is a lovely surprise when our readers email to inform us of how much they enjoy the publication, expressing kind words. When we receive emails from people who want to contribute and advertise it all makes the hard work worth while.”


The pair hope to continue making Enchanté Leeds a platform for talented and passionate members of the Leeds community, providing an extensive, entertaining, informative and ascetically pleasing read about life in Leeds to as many readers as possible.

For more information on Enchanté, please contact Anna Newman and Laura Harris by email on anna@enchantemagazine.co.uk, or laura@enchantemagazine.co.uk. Enchanté’s website, www.enchantemagazine.co.uk will be launched early 2010.

For more information on the Proof of Concept grant, book an appointment with a business advisor, or any other start-up advice, please call 0113 812 1752.