Disclosure: Shaun Anderson‘s (B.1973) Art Portfolio. This is a personal project. I used Gemini Pro 2.5 to review this portfolio of letters. This is a document of my career before I focused online. See our AI policy. From the author: Before my tenure with Adpartners advertising agency in Glasgow in 1999, I launched Vision Design and The Inshops Handy Leaflet, and even pitched the idea of hyperlocal marketing to the Marketing Director of Tesco. I managed to get PSYBT support. I won the regional promising new business through PSYBT and Shell Livewire. I remember thinking that to operate in business, you need to be transparent and legitimate. Taking part in such a process would teach me things, too. I formulated the idea while working in the night shift at Tesco. As soon as I was confident in it, I left Tesco and applied to the Prince’s Trust for support. I was very grateful for the continued support of the PSYBT members named on this page (Edith Baird and Colin Wilson, especially). I can’t remember how many businesses I was up against. I think there were 12 finalists in the regional finals for Inverclyde, which I won and received a trophy. After winning the regionals in a process that was very much like Dragon’s Den, I was invited to join the Royal Bank of Scotland Business Growth Challenge 1998.
In the late 1990s, the UK was emerging from the shadow of an earlier recession, yet challenges, particularly youth unemployment, persisted. This socio-economic landscape fostered a climate where enterprise and self-employment were promoted as viable pathways to economic empowerment. These documents, which chronicle the journey of his venture, “Vision Design,” offer a detailed lens through which to examine the operational models of two key institutions: The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) and the Shell Livewire programme.
This analysis provides a valuable historical snapshot of a pivotal era in the development of the UK’s third sector and corporate social investment.
The case study serves not only to document a specific founder’s experience but also to derive enduring lessons on program design, the nature of founder support, and the evolution of the enterprise ecosystem.
Charting the Journey of Vision Design (1996-1998)
The archival documents provide a clear, chronological narrative of Shaun Anderson’s engagement with the enterprise support system between 1996 and 1998. Each piece of correspondence acts as an artefact, revealing a step-by-step process of validation, mentorship, and practical assistance that took his venture from concept to a publicly launched entity.
Chronological Timeline of Key Events for Vision Design (1996-1998)
This timeline consolidates the key events from the source documents, providing a structured overview of the founder’s journey through the support ecosystem.2
| Date | Event | Document Source | Key Actors |
| 06 March 1996 | Letter from PSYBT inviting Shaun Anderson to apply for the Shell Livewire Business Awards. | Page 2 of PDF | Edith Baird (PSYBT), Shaun Anderson |
| 25 March 1996 | Scheduled date for interviews for Shell Livewire award applicants at Renfrewshire Enterprise. | Page 2 of PDF | Shell Livewire, Shortlisted Applicants |
| 10 October 1997 | Letter from PSYBT informing Shaun Anderson of his scheduled Investment Panel meeting. | Page 7 of PDF | Edith Baird (PSYBT), Shaun Anderson |
| 23 October 1997 | Scheduled date and time (11:45 a.m.) for the PSYBT Investment Panel at the First Business Centre. | Page 7 of PDF | PSYBT Investment Panel, Shaun Anderson |
| 06 January 1998 | Date of formal letter from PSYBT to the Greenock Telegraph confirming support for Vision Design. | Page 6 of PDF | Edith Baird (PSYBT), Steve Povey (Greenock Telegraph) |
| 08 January 1998 | Official start date of the three-month, 15% advertising discount for Vision Design. | Page 6 of PDF | Shaun Anderson (Vision Design), Greenock Telegraph |
The Founder’s Mandate – Transparency and Legitimacy
The portfolio opens with a profound statement of intent from the founder, Shaun Anderson: “I remember thinking that to operate in business, you need to be transparent and legitimate. Taking part in such a process would teach me things, too.”.
This reflection is foundational, establishing a motivation that extends beyond simple commercial ambition.
It reveals a desire to build a credible, properly constituted enterprise, aligning perfectly with the ethos of organisations like The Prince’s Trust, which aim to help young people build skills and confidence for a better future.
The statement frames the engagement with PSYBT not merely as a means to an end (funding), but as an educational journey in itself. It suggests a sophisticated understanding that the process of formalisation—of drafting plans, facing panels, and seeking endorsements—is a form of invaluable, experiential learning in business governance and practice.
The Shell Livewire Opportunity (March 1996)
The earliest dated document in the sequence is a letter from Edith Baird, the Regional Manager for PSYBT, concerning the Shell Livewire Business Awards.
Dated 6th March 1996 and addressed to Mr. Anderson of Greenock, this correspondence is critical as it establishes the direct, collaborative link between the charitable trust and the corporate programme.
The letter outlines the opportunity clearly: a chance to win a £1,000 prize by submitting a business plan, with interviews for shortlisted applicants to be held on 25th March at Renfrewshire Enterprise. The communication concludes with a capitalised, motivational call to action:
“REMEMBER IF YOU ARE NOT IN, YOU WONT WIN”.
This blend of formal opportunity and informal encouragement exemplifies the supportive, yet challenging, nature of the programme.
The PSYBT Investment Panel (October 1997)
Over a year later, the journey progresses to a critical stage.
A letter dated 10th October 1997 informs Shaun Anderson that “a panel has been organised on Thursday, 23rd October, 1997 at 11.45 a.m. at the First Business Centre to discuss your business proposal”.
This invitation to the PSYBT Investment Panel represents the culmination of the business planning and mentorship phase.
The formality of the event underscores its importance as the gateway to official funding and support. The instruction to bring along his “finalised business plan” indicates a prior process of refinement and guidance. A notable detail is the change in Mr. Anderson’s address in Greenock, which helps build a more complete timeline of his circumstances.
Within this formal communication, a human touch remains: Edith Baird’s handwritten sign-off,
“Best of Luck. Edith”, signals a personal investment in the founder’s success, a hallmark of a relationship-based support model.
Tangible Support and Public-Facing Legitimacy (January 1998)
The successful outcome of the investment panel is made clear in a formal letter from Edith Baird to Mr. Steve Povey, General Sales Manager of the Greenock Telegraph, dated 6th January 1998.
This document is the tangible output of the entire PSYBT process, translating the Trust’s approval into concrete, practical support for the newly launched business. For the first time, the business is officially named as Vision Design, with a contact telephone number.
The support detailed in the letter is twofold and strategically vital for a new enterprise. First, it provides direct financial leverage through a 15% discount on advertising for a three-month period, commencing on 8th January 1998.
Second, it offers crucial promotional support with the commitment that “A press release will be submitted to the business desk for consideration.”.
Most importantly, the letter serves as an official endorsement, explicitly stating that Vision Design “is a new business started up by the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust”. This act represents a direct transfer of credibility from the established, respected institution to the fledgling start-up.
The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT)
The support provided to Vision Design was not an ad-hoc arrangement but the product of a well-defined institutional framework. The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) was a key player in a wider national movement to foster youth enterprise, and its operational model is clearly reflected in the Anderson portfolio.
A Legacy of Enterprise Support
The lineage of PSYBT traces back to 1976, when HRH The Prince of Wales founded The Prince’s Trust, using his £7,400 Navy severance pay to fund community projects for disadvantaged youth amid record unemployment.
Recognising the potential of self-employment, the dedicated Enterprise programme was launched in 1983 to help young people start their own businesses.
The movement’s growth led to the establishment of The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) in 1989, creating a focused entity to serve Scotland’s specific needs.
The period of this case study precedes the 1999 consolidation of the various trusts under a single Royal Charter, which formalised the structure of the very organisation that was instrumental in Shaun Anderson’s journey.
The PSYBT Operational Model – Mentorship, Panels, and Practical Support
The PSYBT model was a holistic system designed to guide a young entrepreneur from an initial idea to a functioning business. The evidence from the Vision Design case, supported by broader research, reveals its core components.
First, mentorship was central. The portfolio explicitly names “Colin Grant, P.S.Y.B.T. Adviser” as a reference, located at the same Greenock address as the Trust.
This aligns with the Trust’s long-standing emphasis on pairing founders with experienced business mentors, a feature often cited by beneficiaries as the most valuable aspect of the support they receive.
Second, business plan development was a prerequisite for funding. The repeated references to a “finalised business plan” 2 show that PSYBT’s role was not passive; it actively engaged with entrepreneurs to shape their proposals into robust, viable documents.
Third, access to capital was facilitated through a formal, rigorous process. The “PSYBT INVESTMENT PANEL” was not a simple grant application but a formal defence of the business proposal to a committee ( a lot like the TV program, Dragons’ Den).
This provided founders with critical, real-world experience in pitching for investment.
Finally, the process culminated in practical launch support. The advertising discount and press release submission are prime examples of the tangible, “getting started” tools that PSYBT provided post-investment, fulfilling its stated mission of helping “young people to start up and continue in business”.
This comprehensive model demonstrates that PSYBT was an early precursor to the modern business incubators and accelerators that are now common, offering a structured programme of mentorship, planning, pitching, and post-launch support.
The Regional Powerhouse – The Greenock Office
A key strategic element of PSYBT’s effectiveness was its devolved, regional structure. The documents provide the full address and contact details for the Greenock office, located at the First Business Centre, Victory Court, and managed by Edith Baird.
This hyper-local presence was fundamental. It allowed PSYBT to build deep, meaningful relationships not only with the entrepreneurs it served but also with key stakeholders in the local community. The ability to broker a specific advertising deal with the
Greenock Telegraph is a direct outcome of this community-embedded approach. This regional model enabled a level of personalised service and tailored support that a centralised, national bureaucracy could not hope to replicate, allowing the Trust to create a genuine micro-ecosystem of support around each founder.
The Corporate Catalyst – The Shell Livewire Programme
The documents reveal that PSYBT did not operate in isolation. It worked in a strategic partnership with the Shell Livewire programme, a corporate social investment (CSI) initiative that played a distinct but complementary role in the enterprise ecosystem.
A Scottish Genesis – From Strathclyde to the World
It is historically significant that the Shell Livewire programme has its roots in Scotland.
It was first launched in the Strathclyde region in 1982 as a response to high youth unemployment, before being rolled out across the UK and, eventually, internationally.
This context is crucial. The 1996 award opportunity offered to Shaun Anderson was not part of a peripheral or new initiative; it was an engagement with a programme in its own heartland, representing a long-term commitment by Shell to social investment in the region.
Recognition, Validation, and Capital
In this support ecosystem, Shell Livewire’s primary function was not deep, long-term mentorship but to act as a high-profile catalyst. The programme provided a competitive platform for young entrepreneurs to gain public recognition and third-party validation. Shaun Anderson’s own statement confirms that he “won the regional promising new business through PSYBT and Shell Livewire”. This award served as a powerful, independent endorsement of his business concept, signalling its quality to the market.
Furthermore, the £1,000 prize mentioned in the 1996 letter represented a significant injection of seed capital for a start-up in that era, providing the financial fuel to complement the structural support from PSYBT.2
The partnership model on display was remarkably efficient.
PSYBT, with its grassroots network and intensive vetting process, performed the role of incubator, identifying and nurturing promising candidates.
Shell Livewire then provided the high-visibility platform—the competitive award—that delivered prestige, publicity, and a capital prize. In this symbiotic relationship, the charity leveraged its local expertise to de-risk the selection process for the corporation, while the corporation leveraged its brand and financial resources to provide a powerful incentive that enhanced the charity’s offering to its clients. This represents a sophisticated and early form of cross-sector partnership, creating a structured pipeline for entrepreneurial talent.
The Evolution of a CSI Programme
The Shell Livewire programme of the 1990s offered general enterprise support, open to business ideas from any sector.
However, it is useful to note its subsequent evolution as a point of contrast. In the decades since, the programme has developed a much sharper focus, with global initiatives like the “Smarter Future Programme” and “Top Ten Innovators” competition targeting start-ups that provide innovative solutions to challenges in sustainability, energy transition, and other high-tech fields.
This shift from a generalised local award to a specialised global platform reflects broader trends in corporate social investment, which have moved towards more strategic alignment with core business interests.
This evolution highlights that the programme was not only a form of social contribution but also functioned as a long-term, wide-net talent scouting and market intelligence operation for Shell.
Analysis of the 1990s Youth Enterprise Support Model
Analysing the case of Vision Design with the institutional profiles of PSYBT and Shell Livewire reveals a carefully designed support model, optimised for its pre-Internet era. Its effectiveness stemmed from a combination of “soft support,” structured validation, and deep community integration.
Comparative Analysis of PSYBT and Shell Livewire Support Mechanisms (c. 1998)
This table provides a comparative breakdown of the two organisations, highlighting their distinct yet complementary roles within the 1990s enterprise support ecosystem.
| Feature | The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) | Shell Livewire |
| Primary Function | Holistic, long-term business development and funding for young people facing disadvantage. | High-profile enterprise promotion and recognition through a competitive awards scheme. |
| Core Offering | Mentorship (advisers like Colin Grant), business plan finalisation, and access to Investment Panels for funding. | Competitive awards, cash prizes (£1,000 mentioned), publicity, and networking opportunities. |
| Target Group | 18-30-year-olds, often unemployed or struggling, need foundational support. | 16-30 year-olds with viable business ideas ready for a competitive platform. |
| Key Output for Founder | A validated business plan, potential funding, a long-term mentor, and a structured support network. | Public recognition, third-party validation, prize money, and media exposure. |
| Interaction Model | Direct, sustained, relationship-based engagement with regional managers and advisers. | Primarily transactional and event-driven, through competitive application and award ceremonies. |
The Power of “Soft Support” and Structured Validation
Analysis of the process suggests that the most significant value delivered to the founder was not purely financial but psychological and structural.
The journey, being guided by an adviser like Colin Grant, having a business plan meticulously reviewed and finalised, and successfully presenting to a formal investment panel, is a powerful mechanism for building founder confidence.
This “soft support” infrastructure combats the isolation and self-doubt that are primary causes of start-up failure.
The structured validation from respected external bodies provides the very legitimacy that Shaun Anderson identified as a foundational goal.
The entire ecosystem appears engineered to function as a credibility transfer engine. A new, unknown venture like Vision Design begins with zero market credibility. By successfully navigating the rigorous filters of the PSYBT process and the Shell Livewire competition, the business is systematically “stamped” with the credibility of these established institutions. The formal letter to the newspaper is the final act in this transfer, publicly bestowing the institutional seal of approval onto the start-up.
Leveraging Credibility – The Power of Association
The ability for Vision Design to publicly state that it was “started up by the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust” and was a winner of a “regional promising new business through PSYBT and Shell Livewire” was an invaluable marketing asset.
This association functions as a powerful market signal, communicating quality, trustworthiness, and viability to potential customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. In effect, the endorsement from these organisations de-risks the new venture in the eyes of the community, providing a competitive advantage that is arguably more valuable and sustainable than the initial prize money or advertising discount.
The Hyper-Local Advantage – A Community-Embedded Approach
The model’s design was perfectly optimised for a pre-Internet world, where business was inherently local. Its strength lies in its deep community embedding.
The regional office structure, the personal relationships with local managers, and the formal partnership with the Greenock Telegraph are all hallmarks of this approach.
This structure ensured that the support provided was not abstract but immediately practical and relevant to the founder’s specific market. It created a virtuous cycle: a local charity supports a local entrepreneur, who then advertises in a local newspaper and serves a local customer base, thereby strengthening the entire local economic fabric. This geographically constrained but deeply integrated model stands in contrast to many modern, placeless digital support programs, highlighting a strategic trade-off between depth and scale.
The Legacy of the 1990s Model and Its Modern Evolution
The portfolio of Shaun Anderson’s Vision Design provides a remarkably clear snapshot of a successful youth enterprise support model from the late 1990s.
It was an ecosystem characterised by a personalised, relationship-based approach; a focus on building foundational business skills and confidence through structured validation; a sophisticated, symbiotic partnership between the charitable and corporate sectors; and a deep, strategic embedding within the local community infrastructure.
In the decades since, these organisations have evolved dramatically. PSYBT has been fully integrated into what is now The King’s Trust, an organisation that operates on a massive national and international scale, supporting over 60,000 young people annually.
Its operations have undergone a digital transformation, with online resources and a national contact centre serving as the primary touchpoints for many.14 Similarly, Shell Livewire has transformed from a UK-focused award into a global platform operating in over 18 countries, with a strategic focus on fostering innovation in sectors like sustainable energy.
Despite these profound shifts in scale, technology, and strategic focus, the core principles illuminated by this 1990s case study remain timeless. The fundamental needs of a young founder—for expert mentorship, for structured validation, for a supportive network to combat isolation, and, perhaps most importantly, for someone to believe in their potential—are unchanging. The journey of Vision Design serves as a powerful historical testament to a model that, while a product of its era, was built on an enduring and deeply human understanding of what it takes to turn an idea into an enterprise.
