In case you’ve missed the amazing talk by Ry Morgan from PleaseCycle last Thursday, we’ve decided to put up the slides together with the Podcast so that you don’t have to feel left out.
Psychologists from the University of London have designed a scientific test of entrepreneurialism. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook and is now worth over $4billion. To what extent do you notice and exploit bountiful opportunities? Find out how you rate:
What could the future have in store for you?
Take our short, 10-minute test to find out. Simply answer some demographic questions, and then rate your agreement with some statements.
Do you have a bright idea for a new or improved service or product which is based in science, technology, engineering or mathematics? Put your ideas on paper and compete with your peers. You don’t need any formal business knowledge and you can enter on your own or as part of a team.
“We now have belief in our idea, and ourselves, and believe that if we focus on it, we can succeed.”
HARMEET ARORA, previous winner
Get involved with the competition to learn how to:
• explore and develop your ideas
• make your CV stand out
• pitch yourself and your ideas for help and support
• kick start your idea!
Enter via the WestFocus website by 13 December 2010. We will be running a special all day drop-in advice session on Friday 10th December in Enterprise Lab, Orchard Building.
Ry Morgan graduated in June 2010 from the University of St Andrews and is now starting up PleaseCycle, a business which seeks inspire cycling within corporations, helping them create a more sustainable, healthy and productive workforce. One of our most inspirational speakers, Ry takes us on his personal journey from successful campaigner to miserable failure and explains how he got back on his feet and started all over again.
This podcast is from our Get Inspired! event on 25th November 2010.
Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs sent off a selected team of ten students to compete in the national Million Makers competition.
Million Makers is a national campaign to raise the £1million towards the £40 million this year that The Prince’s Trust needs to continue its work with some of the most disadvantaged young people across the UK.
Take a minute to meet our team and when you see them around campus, you can support them, their projects and the cause.
Cristina Lopez Stahlie
Hello there my fellow businessmen and women!! My name is Cristina Lopez Stahlie and it is my first year here at Royal Holloway. I currently live in Madrid, and have recently graduated from Leysin American School in Switzerland. I am currently a foundation student, studying psychology, economics and business and wish to continue studying psychology at Royal Holloway for my undergraduate degree. Through being part of the Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs committee, I currently hold the role of project director,and saw it as an opportunity to take a lead and generate business opportunities for both students and myself. As projects director, I took on the Million Makers project as I saw it as a challenge for myself and thought it would appeal to others as I feel it is a good opportunity to delegate as a team, take on roles and responsibilities and raise money for a worthwhile cause. As director of this project, I have taken on the role of the secretary to ensure that the team meets regularly, and co-ordinate the events to make sure all actions from our weekly meetings are implemented. I so far have found the competition very exciting, and feel that I am working with a very motivated and dedicated team.
Art Ophat Manosilapakorn
My name is Art Ophat Manosilapakorn. I am currently pursuing my MBA in International Management (Marketing). My main responsibility on the Million Makers Team is in the area of Public Relation and Marketing communication. Personally, I am passionate about the entrepreneur field and always on the lookout for humanitarian projects. Prior to my postgraduate studies, I worked in the health care and biotechnology industries. Being chosen to represent Royal Holloway in the Million Makers project is truly a great honour. Additionally, by working for charity I will be exposed to personal challenges and experiences that I would not have otherwise encountered. I also enjoy meeting open-minded people and make new friends.
Jean-Paul Talamoni
My name is Jean- Paul Talamoni. I am 19, half French and half Italian and currently studying in Royal Holloways UFP programme, studying Business, Economics and Mathematics and wish to continue studying Management and Mathematics at undergraduate level. I joint Million Makers as a challenge for myself as well as work within a team. The competition instantly appealed to me as very challenging and interesting, and I’ve found myself working with people from many different cultural backgrounds with different opinions. I saw Million Makers as a great opportunity to test my business acumen and raise money for charity.
Olivia Brocklebank-Fowler
My name is Olivia Brocklebank-Fowler, I’m 18 years old and I’m from London. I Joined Royal Holloway this year and am studying BA History which is good so far! I decided to join the ‘Million Makers Team’ because I’m very interested in business and how it works and may potentially want to follow a similar sort of career. Another reason for joining is because we are working for charity, a good cause, and I believe it will be very satisfying to see our hard work make a positive contribution to amazing work of the Princes Trust. The competition not only offers these given benefits but less obvious ones such as developing teamwork skills and meeting new people. On top of all of this if we raise the most money overall, there are many exciting sort of prizes such as 3 weeks work experience with a top corporate firm! The role I’m going to be taking specifically within the team concerns Public Relations. I volunteered for the role because I am a good communicator and am confident enough to approach people and get my point across effectively (hopefully!). I think I can contribute a lot to the team as I am bright, full of ideas and am good at identifying what consumers are missing (I can be quite skeptical myself) and therefore understanding what sort of events would be successful, worthwhile and fun. I am really excited about this competition and the plans we have already come up with and can’t wait to see what the result is!
Mina Le Vigoureux
My name is Mina Le Vigoureux , I am 18 years old and from France. I currently study Business, Economics and Media in Royal Holloway’s foundation programme and I am working with the team as PR officer. As I also wish to continue studying media in university, I thought this competition would be a good opportunity to gain experience with public relations and publicity of which I believe could be applied in future. I personally wanted to join the Million Makers team because I enjoy challenges, organizing events and working as a team. I also think it’s wonderful to support The Princes Trust and help young people in need.
Brian Donatiello
Hello, I am Brian Donatiello and hold the treasurer position on the team which involves financial control, record keeping and cash flow monitoring which is vital to the success of the project. I am currently studying in Royal Holloway’s foundation programme, in the following courses: mathematics, psychology, English and drama. As I am highly experienced in the economic field, I am very familiar with accounting processes and business in general, as I have an accountant high school diploma I really understand how to approach the competition from the economic perspective, applying my knowledge from my five years of studying economics, and now business. I decided to join Million makers to challenge myself, and work with a team under a strict time frame. I also admire how the overall outcome will be donated to charity, which has given me the enthusiasm to motivate the team and myself. In addition, I feel that this is already an amazing opportunity for future work experience, and a huge opportunity to learn from others as well as myself to apply in the work place in future. I feel the challenge itself is seen as beneficial to everybody in the team, especially as we are helping people in need. I am honored to represent Royal Holloway in this competition.
Xiaorui Wang (Tina)
I come from Beijing, China. I am currently a Pre-Master student in Royal Holloway International Management, and will study MBA International Management next year. I like sports, so I am a team member of RHUL BEARS Badminton. As a fan of Latin dancing, I joined RHUL Balads (Royal Holloway’s Ballroom and Latin American Dancing Society). Being a member the team of “Million Maker”, I am currently a PR officer on the Million Makers team of which involves research into local media opportunities, as well as distributing and delivering publicity materials.
Michal Porvaznik
My name is Michal Porvaznik and I am 18 years old student from Slovakia. Currently, I am studying at Royal Holloway University of London’s Foundation Programme. As for my role in the team, I am occupied with creating ideas for persuading people to take part in our project at the moment. I joined the team mostly because I like to get involved and spend my time creatively for the right purposes. I am student of mathematics and I believe that my analytical skills can contribute to the success of the team. I hope that this competition will improve my skills in multiple domains, especially teamwork.
Elizabeth Tanya
Hi my name is Elizabeth and I am currently studying the UFP in Royal Holloway. My responsibilities on the Million Makers team are to assist the secretary in keeping record of all information. I am also responsible in compiling proposals and business as plans as well as proofreading and overseeing all documentation before presentations and final draft completion. Helping the community has always been a passion of mine, and I believe this competition gives me the perfect opportunity to do so. I also believe that being a part of this project is playing a part in helping change and influence young lives. Giving one person an opportunity can influence the lives of many generations.
Want to start a new commercial or social enterprise venture but don’t know how? Want to enhance your ‘employability’? Then read on to find out about £60k of funding…
The ‘Innovation & Social Enterprise Academy’ is a new national initiative of the commercial division of National Union of Students (NUSSL). It encourages and supports individual students and students’ unions and their staff members in their efforts to build new commercial and social enterprises for the Students’ Union through the availability of seed funding to the Students’ Union. In addition, it offers additional excellent development opportunity for all participants through attendance at free skills workshops and personal tutoring in business proposals.
You are invited to apply for funding for ‘ideas that are ethical, legal and that demonstrate a clear long term commercial benefit to students’ unions’. The ideas could be completely new to our union or ideas that build on or enhance our existing services and activities. Funding of up to 60k is available for the successful proposals and will be distributed to the selected Students’ Unions (N.B. not to individuals) to help launch their ideas. Successful applicants will also be invited to attend a 2 day development course on 8 & 9 February in Cheltenham and will be supported throughout the process by the Students’ Union.
One of the most important things about starting a business is that you need to write stuff down. When you keep everything in your head, you end up ignoring contradictory evidence, forgetting important details, and generally making poor decisions.
The Startup Toolkit, a simple but effective website developed by Rob Fitzpatrick, is a quick way to write down the big, important building blocks of your startup. The goal here isn’t to tell you what to do — it’s just meant to help you to make your own good decisions.
It is based in large part on the worksheets and questions from Steve Blank’s book The 4 Steps to the Epiphany. The visual layout is based on the work done by Osterwalder, covered in great detail in the beautiful Business Model Generation book. Ash Maurya has also contributed his own twist on the canvas specifically for web startups. The risk dashboard is straight out of the pages of Komisar & Mullin’s Getting to Plan B.
In 2006 Lucy Caslon, a Royal Holloway alumna, travelled through East, Central and Southern Africa before spending four months with AIDS orphans in Lesotho. She got to know and love the children and worried about returning home and leaving them in need of nutritious food and better living facilities. On returning to London, she founded Mants’ase Children’s Home UK which later evolved into Msizi Africa.
In this podcast Lucy tells us how and why she set up this amazing charity.
‘We’ll feed him for a month, can you feed him for a year?’
We challenge you to turn the £5 that feeds a child for a month into as much
money as possible using your entrepreneurial and innovative skills around campus or in the local community.
You have one week from when the money is handed
over to make as much profit as possible. Make the most money
and be our prize winners! Can you really make a difference?
All profit gained will go to the Msizi Africa charity.
With Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson addresses an urgent and universal question: What sparks the flash of brilliance? How does groundbreaking innovation happen? This video on YouTube, created as a promotional trailer for his new book, playfully explores the idea of allowing chance to ‘favour the connected mind’.
If this video interests you, and you want to try out some exercises which will help you to generate a new business idea, come to our next Startup Wednesday workshop on 10th November 2010, 2pm-4pm in Arts Building S21.
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In 2006 Lucy Caslon, a Royal Holloway alumna, travelled through East, Central and Southern Africa before spending four months with AIDS orphans in Lesotho. She got to know and love the children and worried about returning home and leaving them in need of nutritious food and better living facilities. On returning to London, she founded Mants’ase Children’s Home UK which later evolved into 
