Posted by president on October 12, 2011 under Events | 
Thursday 13th October, Management Building Lecture Theatre from 6pm
Hear from Rich Martell, the creator of the social networks Floxx and FitFinder. Likened to Mark Zuckerberg for breaking the rules at UCL…What did he do? Where has success taken him? Shortlisted in 2011 for the Real Business Young Entrepreneur of the Year and ‘Business Zone’s One to Watch’ don’t miss out tomorrow!
Listen to Rich, ask him about his journey, get some advice and network. Everybody welcome!
Posted by president on under News |
Lucy Caslon, founder of Msizi Africa
- a charity which gives children in Africa access to nutritious food and shelter, needs one minute of your time to help raise money for a really great cause.
Msizi Africa has been shortlisted in the Vodafone Foundation’s competition to win £100,000! To go through to the next stage of the competition we need to win a Facebook vote. Please copy and paste the following message and email it, Tweet it and share it on Facebook.
Pls vote LUCY CASLON on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/worldofdifference?sk=app_220502284678145 to win £100,000 for SA’s AIDS orphans. Take 1 min to vote & share.
Thanks for your help!
Posted by president on October 10, 2011 under Competitions, Events, News, Photos |
The Students Union was transformed into an atmospheric den for the evening and 10 students were each given precisely two minutes to make their pitch to the Dragons. With the clock counting down, the tension mounted as students presented bids that included: a Boris Johnson-style cycle hire scheme for Egham; a student comedy club inLondon; a new fashion collection to sell on campus and a hands-free make-up application device, particularly aimed at the less able.
The team of four Dragons, led by Surinder Arora, had three minutes in which to grill the competitors over their market research, financial planning and project feasibility.
Rashique is told his ice cream will be introduced to the 5* Sofitel Hotel at Heathrow
First prize was awarded to Rashique Siddique, a student who had invented a new flavour of ice cream, Avoretto. The avocado and amaretto ice cream, which the student is already selling in his father’s Indian restaurant, received complimentary comments from all four Dragons. Surinder presented the winner with a cheque for £1,000 to develop his business. To the excitement of the audience, he then proceeded to secure the future success of the venture by also offering to put the ice cream on the menu of his luxury 5 Star Sofitel at Heathrow.
Rashique Siddique said ‘It was a great honour to pitch my business idea to the dragons. The last two days have been hectic, from trying to get the pitch right to making sure the product was immaculate. It was also great to see other amazing ‘out of the box’ ideas, and it just shows that people do have business acumen. I remember yesterday morning, walking out of my room, looking at Nora Robert’s quote. “If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.”
Surinder Arora said: “Choosing a winning idea from ten strong contenders was a tough call for us ‘Dragon’s’. The student entrepreneurs responded well to our questioning and I was so impressed with the winning Ice Cream concept presented by Rashique, that I have offered him the opportunity to feature his products on the menu at our flagship hotel – Sofitel London Heathrow at Terminal 5. I am delighted to strengthen my relationship with Royal Holloway, a university for which I have had great respect during my twenty year association through the launch of Arora’s Den and the Arora Awards for Enterprise”, Surinder Arora, Founder & CEO, Arora Hotels.
The second prize of £150 was presented to a Music student, Joanna Hardy, whose innovative project was intended to appeal to everyone with a love of old-fashioned vinyl records. Her proposal was to bulk-buy records from charity shops, then up-cycle them by backing them with cork and market the products to shops and restaurants as table placemats.
At the end of the evening no one left empty handed. Each contestant was delighted to receive a cheque for £50 to encourage them in their future business ventures.
I was absolutely delighted with both the success and response to the evening. This event epitomises what we see as the mission of Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs- to deliver, in a professional and entertaining format, events that inspire, motivate and support students in pursuing and developing their enterprising ideas. What we witnessed here this evening was a life changing event for not only the winner, but for everybody present who felt the thrill and energy of innovative pursuit present in the hall this evening, and from now on will have the courage to believe in their own ideas.
