The Entrepreneurship Centre’s bi-annual awards evening took place last week and included an evening of celebrations for graduates of their FastStart entrepreneurship programmes and winners of their competitions: The Start Up Challenge and What’s the big idea?
The evening featured keynote speaker, Sarah Stein Greenberg, Global Fellow 2024 (Education). Sarah is the Executive Director of the Stanford d.school and the author of Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways. She leads a community of designers, faculty, and other innovative thinkers who help people unlock their creative abilities and apply them to the world.
Across the centre’s 5 programmes, there were over 30 graduates who were each recognised in a ceremony where they were presented with their cohort t-shirts and now, their names will feature on the centre’s “wall of fame.”
As part of the FastStart Digital Launchpad programme, participants deliver a final pitch to a panel of judges with a financial ask up to £1,000. FastStart Digital Launchpad is the Entrepreneurship Centre’s newest programme where participants can take their digital ideas and develop an action-plan using no-code platforms to plan, develop and launch a proof of concept.
The winners were:
Adam Kuca, School of Computer Science
Marta Orzechowski, School of Biology
Case Lake, School of Biology
Alice Gilman, International Education Institute
Vlad Tronciu, School of Computer Science
The winners of The Start Up Challenge were announced. The competition, funded by Santander Universities, is aimed at students and recent graduates who have been developing a business for some time, speaking to customers or have a minimal viable product or prototype. Entrants can pitch for up to £5,000 to develop their businesses further.
There were 3 winners this semester:
Oliver Lee, School of Chemistry
Matthew Moore, School of Physics and Astronomy
Jade Mkparu, School of English
The winners of the centre’s ideas competition: What’s the big idea? were also announced. Across 3 categories (product, service, technology), there were 4 winners who each won £100 and a space on next semesters’ FastStart programmes.
The winners were:
Product: Jiayin Meng, School of Computer Science
Service: Margaret Wu, School of Mathematics and Statistics
Service: Rachel Hymes, Business School
Technology: Mary Abed Al Ahad, School of Geography and Sustainable Development
Congratulations to all FastStart graduates, competition finalists and winners.
Applications for Cohort 7 of FastStart will open mid-September.