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Network with senior entrepreneurs at the biggest event of our year – our AGM!

Posted by John King on July 29, 2010 under Events | Be the First to Comment

More than ten senior entrepreneurs now confirmed

We would like to invite all of our members to come to the School of Management at Royal Holloway on Wednesday 4th August 2010 and join us in presenting Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs to honorary fellows, the college and many others. Our outgoing President and Committee will present what we have achieved this year, and we’ll also welcome our new President. We’ll also be hearing from a student entrepreneur who successfully launched their business this year.

The programme is as follows:
6.00 – 6.45 pm AGM
6.50 – 7.30 pm Drinks Reception

The reception will be an opportunity for us to thank you and others who have supported Royal Holloway and to discuss some of the wider developments at the College.

We all hope to see you there!

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Start Up Smart and win £5,000

Posted by John King on July 12, 2010 under Competitions | Be the First to Comment

Robin Bennett is a Royal Holloway alum who has started a string of successful businesses. Now he is offering to help out other prospective entrepreneurs by offering initial set up costs, a year’s mentoring from Robin, a national PR campaign and substantial marketing on the Start Up Smart website. Open to anyone living in the United Kingdom between 18-30 years old, the Start Up Smart competition is looking for innovative business ideas which should cost no more than £5000 in initial set up costs.

There will be five winners announced in November 2010 in five categories:

1. Services
2. Manufacturing
3. IT
4. Media and arts
5. Retail

Submit your idea

Initial submissions to be emailed either as text (no more than 250 words) or as a video file. Tell us a bit about you, then set out your business idea, and outline approximately how much you think your company would cost to set up and run in its first year (remember, it can’t be more than £5000).

For more information, visit www.startupsmart.co.uk/competition.htm

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Bright Futures photos June 2010

Posted by John King on under Photos | Be the First to Comment

Here are the photos from the most recent Bright Futures event, held at Kingston University. The next event will be held in January – check back here for more!

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Win £50,000 package with The Pitch start-up competition

Posted by John King on June 23, 2010 under Competitions | Be the First to Comment

The Pitch is Britain’s biggest pitching competition. Now in its third year, The Pitch 2010 will be visiting another five UK cities the year, searching for the best entrepreneurial talent and asking our crack team of high profile business experts to scrutinise business concepts and presentation skills, searching for the best of the best.

Over the coming months, the competition will be visiting Bristol, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London in a series of regional heats, uncovering some of Britain’s best new businesses. The winners of the regional heats will progress into a national final, held in London in November, competing for the title of ‘Britain’s Best New Business’ as well as £50,000 worth of business support prizes.

The Pitch 2010 is the competition to take your business or business idea to the next level:

  • Win business services prize package worth £50,000
  • Pitch to famous entrepreneurs and business experts
  • Compete against fellow entrepreneurs from your region and across the UK
  • Get your brand seen by thousands of people
  • Meet and learn from top business mentors and real life investors

Deadline for entries from the South East is 1 July, so enter The Pitch 2010 now!

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Could you be the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 and win £10,000?

Posted by John King on under Competitions | Be the First to Comment

The prestigious £10,000 Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2010 is now open for entries online at:

www.shell-livewire.org/awards
(deadline 5pm on Monday 6th September 2010)

Who is it for?

  • The most outstanding entrepreneurial young business person in the UK!
  • UK-residents aged 16-30 (on the 6th September 2010)
  • Anyone who has been trading for between 3 and 18 months (on the 6th September 2010)

What is it?

  • £10,000 cash injection to the business
  • Raises profile and generates vital publicity for the winner and regional finalists
  • The 2009 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Robert Matthams, benefited from coverage in the Financial Times and The Independent as well as broadcast media such as BBC Radio 5 Live and Working Lunch. Articles and features on his business reached a combined audience of over 7 million readers and listeners

Other previous winners include:

  • Jamie Murray-Wells (Glasses Direct) – the largest online retailer of prescription glasses in the world who now employs 70 staff and has a turnover of £40million
  • Michael Welch (Blackcircles.com) – the UK’s largest online tyre retailer
  • Jennifer Irvine (The Pure Package) – a gourmet food home delivery service which has revolutionised dieting and healthy eating. She now has 20 staff and a turnover of over £1m
  • Most recently, 2009 winner Robert Matthams (Shiply.com) has since gone on to win a whole host of awards and accolades, attracting over 10,000 companies to his eBay-style reverse auction site for moving goods (see www.shell-livewire.org/news/award2009/ for details).

Robert Matthams with James Smith, Chairman Shell UK and the coveted  Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 trophy
Above: Robert Matthams with James Smith, Chairman Shell UK and the coveted
Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 trophy.

Watch a short promo video of former LiveWIRE winners since 1982 here!

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FREE entrepreneurship boot camp – apply now!

Posted by John King on May 31, 2010 under Events | Be the First to Comment

Bright Futures

16-18 June 2010

Kingston University, London

This highly successful programme, for enterprising students, has been running for five years. It is free, but limited to the first sixty who enrol (with a refundable booking deposit). An intensive, fun and challenging three-day programme using speakers, team games and business simulations. Come along and:

• develop your enterprising spirit
• communicate more effectively
• get support for your ideas
• hear from inspiring entrepreneurs
• add value to your personal pitch and CV
• build your network and job potential

“An outstanding experience for me” Atta Behravanfar, an engineering student, Kingston University

“Bright Futures was a big confidence builder” ” Jenny Harmer, an english student, Royal Holloway

Applications close Monday 7 June 2010. Apply now at www.westfocus.org.uk/entrepreneurship

Download the Bright Futures June 2010 flyer.

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Win £10k for your idea with Life Academy

Posted by John King on May 19, 2010 under Competitions | Be the First to Comment

Quick! Enter your short video pitch by 27 May!

Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy is a competition which celebrates the Internet, its wealth of possibilities and lets you explore your potential.

From the environment to the arts, simply explain your idea for making a difference in the world. If you impress the judges you could turn your idea into reality.

Want to help the community? Raise awareness of an issue? Or just have a great idea for making life better? If you’re 18-25, find out how you could win £10k to make it happen by visiting http://www.lifeacademy.uk.com/

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Could you be our next President?

Posted by John King on May 18, 2010 under News | Be the First to Comment

Jack Lenox, our founding President, has done a fantastic job of creating Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs. But it is soon approaching the time for him to hand over the reins to the next President, to take the organization to the next level.

Could you be our next President?

It is a fantastic opportunity to lead the NACUE New Society of the Year 2010. The job involves everything from running events, hobnobbing with famous entrepreneurs, managing a budget to buying late night pizza and inspiring a team of amazing students. Can you do all of this?

Read the job description and take a look at the advert which includes details of how to apply. You must be a Royal Holloway student or recent graduate.

RHE President Advert 2010

RHE President Job Description 2010

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Social enterprise summer internships

Posted by John King on April 30, 2010 under Social Enterprise | Be the First to Comment

This Summer the Student Microfinance & Development Initiative is sending top students to 158 Leading Social Entrepreneurs of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship around the world to intern.

The internships between June and October on flexible dates will be partly supported by the social entrepreneurs, but the chosen SMDI Fellows are to expect to cover travel expenses and accomodation on their own. Interested students are asked to keep this in mind before applying.

Applicants are to specify one or at most two social enterprises they are interested in working with and the dates of their availability in summer. The Schwab Foundation and SMDI are then going to choose winning applicants and set up the internships with the leading social entrepreneurs.

If you are a student interested in applying to become an SMDI Fellow and join a Schwab Social Entrepreneur over the Summer, please:

Choose a Social Enterprise:

Social Enterprises for Internships

You can find detailed descriptions of the enterprises on

http://www.schwabfound.org/sf/SocialEntrepreneurs/Profiles/index.htm .

Then apply:

by sending in your CV, a cover letter targeted to the one or two social entrepreneurs you are applying to work with and the SMDI Fellow Application Form (if you are not already an SMDI Fellow):

SMDI Fellowship Application Form 

All applications are due until 10 May 2010 and need to be sent to info@smdi.org.uk 

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Compare the growth of the top 100 software companies

Posted by John King on under Research | Be the First to Comment

This chart shows the growth in revenue for each of the 100 technology companies. They are split into rocket ships (in red) which reach $50 million in annual sales within six years, hot companies (in orange) which take up to 12 years to reach this figure, and slow burners (in blue) companies which take 13 years or more to hit $50 million.

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