THREE ex-MG Rover workers from Redditch are looking to bounce back from redundancy by starting their own individual firms.

Software engineer Ian Kirwan, senior copywriter Breandan O'Broin and purchasing manager Rick Main are just three of 20 people to embark on the groundbreaking "FastStart" programme organised by Mustard.uk.com

The initiative, backed by Advantage West Midlands and includes delivery partners from UCE, the University of Warwick Science Park, JobCentre Plus, CQM Nascent Ventures, Contact and Business Link, will provide former MG Rover employees with a combination of business mentoring and a series of development workshops ultimately giving them the skills needed to launch their own high growth potential firm.

"People have waxed lyrical about the huge wealth of talent at Longbridge, some of which could be used to launch new enterprises," explained Kul Sanghera, project director at Mustard.uk.com

"What we are looking to do with FastStart is to find potential entrepreneurs, who can transfer existing experience and skills into creating high growth firms, firms that will ultimately create jobs and add value to the local economy.

"Naturally, a lot of these will have a manufacturing background, so could possibly end up employing former colleagues and friends."

A special helpline set up by the University of Warwick Science Park generated 20 "venturers", all of whom will benefit from up to £10,000 of support each in gaining new entrepreneurial skills, confidence building and practical mentoring on "getting started".

Mr Kirwan, who was at MG Rover for eight years, has already teamed up with former colleagues Derek Hoyle and Steve Glendinning to form Embed Ltd, a company specialising in embedded software for automotive vehicle control systems.

The trio have spent the last four months creating a company identity (www.embeduk.com), developing business processes and exploring ways of transferring their expertise into aerospace, marine and rail sector.

Speaking after the first day of the "FastStart" experience , Ian said: "It was fantastic. It was vibrant, interactive and extremely informative, not least from the point of view that you could bounce ideas off fellow entrepreneurs, who are in a similar position.

"I was devastated when the redundancy note came through, but in a way it has kick-started my desire to be my own boss and I am now genuinely excited at the prospect of running my own business."

Mr Kirwan is not the only one getting in on the act, with Mr Main also launching business improvement consultancy Rick Main & Associates, which will help SMEs improve profitability by reducing cost.

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce's Mustard.uk.com scheme is also working with supply chain initiative Accelerate to identify those made redundant by suppliers after the MG Rover closure.