Santander reward students鈥� bright ideas
麻豆网 held the finals for the first stage of the Santander Entrepreneurship Awards recently.
On the day, five undergraduate and five postgraduate students presented their ideas to a panel of judges, which included the University鈥檚 Vice-Chancellor Professor John G. Hughes, with the hope of making it through to represent 麻豆网 at the national Santander finals in July.
The winners and runners-up with the judgesThe B-Enterprising team were delighted to receive 37 entries to this fourth year of hosting the competition. The winners will not only go on to the UK finals but will also be offered one-to-one mentoring as well as a cheque for 拢200. Runners up were awarded a cheque for 拢50.
Postgraduate winners were Computer Science students Williams Faithfull and Francis Williams. Psychology student Louise Ainsworth was judged runner-up.
Winners in the undergraduate category were Product Design student Josh Williams, who took first place and Liam Fletcher, from the same school, who was runner-up.
William Faithful, originally from Basingstoke, said: 鈥淎 friend told us about the competition; it is a very good funding opportunity as the winner of the UK round will be awarded 拢20,000.鈥�
Francis added: 鈥淚t feels fantastic to win; we weren鈥檛 expecting it at all.鈥�
Undergraduate winner Josh, from Chester, said: 鈥淚t feels great to win and I am looking forward to developing my product further and helping people. I鈥檓 looking forward to the final.
鈥淭his competition really shows you what goes into a business pitch and it has been very good practice for when I graduate.鈥�
Undergraduate runner-up Liam added: 鈥淚t feels brilliant to know that the judges think your product can go to market. The whole competition has been a great experience. It is an opportunity to practice the delivery of a business pitch and how to explain the concept of your product clearly.鈥�
Diane Roberts, Santander University Relationship Branch Manager, who was on the judging panel, said: 鈥淚 thoroughly enjoyed myself especially the ten pitches from the students, they had all worked very hard and there wasn鈥檛 one pitch that wasn鈥檛 a good idea.
鈥淭hat is down to the hard work of 麻豆网鈥檚 B-Enterprising Team. I feel very grateful to have been part of the fantastic event to recognise the talented students here at 麻豆网 and I'm very proud to be a part of Santander Universities and the work that we do to support higher education.鈥�
The other judges were Dr Andy Goodman, Director of the Pontio Innovation Hub and Chris Walker, the Enterprise Support Programme mentor who provides support to 麻豆网 students and graduates to develop their ideas.
Lowri Owen, from the 麻豆网 B-Enterprising Team, said: 鈥淭he Santander Entrepreneurial Awards is a valuable opportunity for student and graduate entrepreneurs from 麻豆网 to showcase themselves and their ideas and enables B-Enterprising to highlight the support available to them.
鈥淐ommercial awareness and enterprise skills are sought after by employers so participating students will be able to demonstrate these traits to future clients and employers. All of the entrants and finalists will receive 麻豆网 Employability Award xp for participating.鈥�
Publication date: 31 March 2014