“Most of you will know a famine has been declared in Somalia. 3.5 million people risk starving to death (many are children).  Islamists who control most of Somalia have banned the World Food Programme from working there.  As a result, tens of thousands of Somalis are fleeing to Kenya to find food.  They walk for weeks to reach the Dadaab refugee camp but often in vain – children arrive so weak they have less than a 40% chance of survival.  We’ve all seen disturbing images of starving children for years and now most recently coming out of Dadaab – these children are a long way from our healthy, happy children in South Africa and Lesotho.

“When children arrive in Dadaab they are given Plumpy Nut, a peanut based food for use in famine relief, formulated by a paediatric nutritionist.  I am liaising with Save the Children who source food from a UNICEF cleared supplier in Nairobi.  I am going to buy Plumpy Nut from this supplier DIRECTLY and Save the Children will drive it straight to Dadaab and distribute it.  Whilst we must safeguard funds for our own children, we have a responsibility to help others when the disaster is on such a huge scale.  Depending on the child’s level of need, it costs in the region of £2 to give a child the Plumpy Nut they need each day.

“We’re donating £1,330 to buy Plumpy Nut for 50 children for 2 weeks – the same number of children in our orphanage.  You now have a chance to donate DIRECTLY to this crisis in the knowledge that 100% of your donation will be spent on Plumpy Nut which will be driven into Dadaab and given to the neediest children immediately.  There are NO admin costs so this is your best way to donate if you haven’t done already.  We will keep our appeal open until Sunday 31^st July and submit an order based on our donation and yours on Monday 1^st August.  Next week we will contact donors to tell you know how much Plumpy Nut we ordered collectively and when it has been delivered.

“Join us and donate at – www.bmycharity.com/eastafricacrisis – let’s all try and help!”

The event began with an afternoon conference where guests heard from a range of speakers including Mike Clare, founder and president of Dreams, Keith Abel, co-founder and chief executive of organic vegetable delivery company Abel & Cole, Nick Jenkins, founder and chairman of personalised greeting card company Moonpig.com, as well as meeting Richard Branson himself.

Louis said, “Getting to meet Richard Branson was a major high point. He was an incredibly down to earth guy that just loves any new fun business idea, he is very inspirational. The reason that I joined Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs was because I had a passion for a business – however I was not sure how to take the next step. RHE have provided me with a safe environment to talk about my business ideas and, after winning the RHE Dragons Den, provided me with enough start-up capital to transform my idea into reality. My company, VEO Eyewear is a social enterprise glasses company. Every time someone purchases a pair of VEO glasses, VEO donates a pair of prescription glasses to a person in need.”

Winners of Big Venture Challenge will get an initial £25K grant and the chance to access up to £150K of seed funding if matched by loans or equity from co-investors, plus first class business support and mentoring designed to keep pace with high growth social entrepreneurs. 

• people with big ideas to transform disadvantaged communities across England
• people who have got what it takes to build credible ventures
• people who have the ambition to scale up impact fast

If you think these could be you, visit the Big Venture Challenge website to enter.

The presentation is available from the Capital Enterprise website.

Register in advance by emailing celia.mulderrig@rhul.ac.uk or on the evening from 5:40 PM.

For more information visit http://www.rhul.ac.uk/research/womeninresearchlectureseries/womeninresearchmanagement.aspx

GRADUATE PACK Starter
£5 per month
5hr per month workspace
30 min enterprise consultation
1hr per month meeting space

GRADUATE PACK: Plus
£10 per month
5hrs per month workspace use
30min enterprise consultation
1hr per month meeting space
Mail box
Business address

For more information visit THECUBE website.

Undergraduate students can win up to £5,000 in funding and postgraduates can win £20,000.

The awards will take the form of a business plan competition, with each participating University able to nominate an undergraduate and postgraduate individual or team. To enter, send a draft business plan to John King, Entrepreneurship Careers Adviser by 10am Monday 16th May. Two winners will be selected from Royal Holloway and each will be given specialist support to submit their final plan to Santander.

For more information and for advice about applying you can also book an appointment at Business Clinic.

About your Business Plan

Your plan should contain an executive summary as well as information about your:

Surinder founded Arora Hotels in 1999 which has since become one of the fastest growing independent hotel companies in the UK and the largest hotel company at Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The primary focus of Arora Hotels is the design, construction and operation of luxury hotels.

At The Kia Oval, Arora is currently working in partnership with Surrey County Cricket Club on the development of a 168-bedroom luxury hotel and is also preferred partner for the new 212-bedroom Royal Ascot Hotel opposite the world famous racecourse.

Surinder has supported Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs since its inception in 2009 and has featured in our events several times. He will join Sir Alec Reed CBE as a Patron of our organisation and we gladly welcome him on board.

Startup Britain (click the middle dot on the right hand side to see Jess) is a high profile scheme aimed at aimed at boosting entrepreneurship which is backed by the Government, successful businesses and more than 50 large businesses. It will be publicly launched by David Cameron at 10.30am on Monday 28th April 2011.

Jess first came to the public’s attention via BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den, where she presented GaBoom, her game exchange website. GaBoom is now successfully helping thousands of users to swap their used computer games.

Jess developed GaBoom during her time at Royal Holloway, where she acted as Events Co-ordinator for Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs, helping to inspire other students to launch their own businesses.

A live blog of the launch event is available at the BusinessZone website.