Last Thursday evening, on 26 June 2014, the winners of the Santander University of Brighton Enterprise Competition 2014 were announced. £10,000-worth of prize money was won, thanks to the generous support of Santander Universities, along with a full package of in-kind support from local businesses. The annual ideas competition received an impressive 65 entries from students and alumni with ideas for new products, services, and community projects.
Melanie Smith, an Illustration graduate won the Most Innovative Product category, with her creative idea for a storytelling kit for children. Business graduate, Weifan Chen, won the Most Entrepreneurial Service category for her Chinese tea house idea, and Photography graduate Jacqueline McCullough won the Most Enterprising Community Project category for her idea for a community arts project aimed at women in prisons. Over the next few months, the winners will be taking advantage of their prize packages to turn their ideas into reality. Holly Price, the University Relationship Branch Manager from Santander Universities said, "It's exciting to see the volume of entries rise each year, with such great ideas and talent coming through."
The Enterprise Competition is part the University of Brighton's extra-curricular entrepreneurship programme, called beepurple, which has the overall aim of enhancing the self-employability of its students and alumni. The programme, run by the Careers Service's enterprise team provides skills development training, one-to-one business support, and enterprise growth grants to students and alumni who have ideas for new private and social ventures.
If you are a student or graduate from the University of Brighton, who is considering starting up your own venture, or who simply wants to enhance your enterprise skills, then please get in touch with the beepurple team by emailing [email protected] or ringing 01273 644727.
Photos courtesy of Philip Bedford.
