Since 2008, the Future 100 Awards have set out to recognise and profile young entrepreneurs running businesses which have a strong commercial foundation as well as a significant social and environmental focus.
Our startup of the week this week is one such business. Having just last month being awarded a Top 10 place in the 2011 Future 100 and in September winning a Smarta 100 Award, Concept Cupboard is certainly a business whose aims truly deserve recognition.

Concept Cupboard is all about “Matching businesses with student creatives to produce quality, low-cost design and marketing solutions.”

How it works:

– A business submits a brief to the site ( design, multimedia, web and writing projects etc.) and a budget for the work.
– Interested “creatives” ( students and graduates) submit their idea and proposal.
– Once all ideas are in, the business then chooses the best one and awards the brief to the successful creative who then gets paid directly by the business at the end of the completed project.

Check out these 2 short videos for more details on how Concept Cupboard works :

For Project Owners :

For Creatives :

Both parties obviously benefit. The small business is able to work with some of the most up and coming and creative talent and at an extremely cost effective price. The creatives can win work, build their portfolios and their reputations in what is after all an extremely competitive industry.

At a time when there are such difficult economic conditions for small businesses and such challenging employment opportunities for graduates, innovative startups like Concept Cupboard are certainly both needed and should be broadly welcomed .

If you are a small business and want to find out more or add a project, click here for more details.

If you are a creative and want to find out more or build your portfolio and get work, click here for more details.

Also, why not check out our other Startups of the Week, by clicking here.