On Thursday 24th April, we were thrilled to host the Student Alumni Founders Celebration: Honouring Competition Winners, an evening dedicated to recognising the achievements of our incredible entrepreneurial community. The event brought together students, alumni and community to honour the winners of our three competitions: The Start Up Challenge, What’s the Big Idea?, and the highly anticipated Founder of the Year Award. It was a night filled with inspiration, celebration and connection – a true testament to the vibrant entrepreneurial spirit at St Andrews.
As part of the evening’s programme, we were delighted to welcome two guest speakers whose journeys exemplify innovation and purpose. Annabella Cuenca Goddard, a current University of St Andrews student and co-founder of Out N About, shared her experience building a platform that combats loneliness and fosters meaningful in-person connections among University students. The Entrepreneurship Centre has supported Annabella and her co-founder Brian since the early stages of their venture, and it was inspiring to see how far they’ve come.
We also heard from Marchela Georgieva, a 2014 Management alumna, who captivated the audience with her entrepreneurial journey. Marchela is the co-founder of Capto, a bootstrapped company revolutionising the B2B sector through tailored digital robots and AI agents. In addition to her work in tech, she leads Wealthy Nomads, an international consultancy helping location-independent entrepreneurs optimise their taxes and establish global, efficient business operations.
The evening was a fantastic celebration of our entrepreneurial talent – past, present, and future. A heartfelt thank you to all who attended and helped make the event such a memorable success.
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:
Cameron Dejahang, School of Economics and Finance
Aidan Barber, Business School
Andrew Stroev, School of Computer Science
Artur Bodiu, School of Biology
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: Aidan Barber, Business School
Service: Laura Eggleton, School of Art History
Technology: Olivia Dyson, School of Computer Science
Special Award: Theodor Blomberg, School of Economics and Finance
We also announced the winner of our brand-new Founder of the Year Award. The Founder of the Year Award, organised by the Entrepreneurship Centre at the University of St Andrews, celebrates outstanding entrepreneurial achievements. This award recognises students who have successfully launched and grown a business or innovative project. It is part of the Founders Community initiative, which fosters collaboration among entrepreneurs through events and networking opportunities. The winner was:
Ideja Bajra, School of Biology
Congratulations to all competition finalists and winners.