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Posted by John King on March 8, 2010 under Competitions | 
The European Commission is encouraging enterprising film lovers to prove their creativity and skills by producing a short video that deals with the following questions: What is entrepreneurship all about? What could encourage people to become entrepreneurs? What could counteract old prejudices and offer new visions of entrepreneurship?
The winning video in each of the three categories will be awarded € 3,333, the videos in second place will be awarded € 2,222, and those in third place will receive € 1,111. Five additional “special winners” will be awarded € 555 each. These special prizes are reserved for persons aged 25 or younger.
The deadline for submissions is 9 April 2010.
Find out more and enter here.
Posted by Florian Jensen on March 5, 2010 under Competitions |
Please click the image above for information and signup.
Read more of this article »
Posted by John King on February 25, 2010 under Competitions |
Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs are giving students the opportunity to launch a small-scale company on campus, between the 8th March and the 15th March. Students can be as adventurous as they want, from running cleaning services, to events and cake sales and more! Groups should be no larger than 4 and are provided with a £50 budget. The aim of the event is to raise funds for The Princes Trust, a charity that gives young people a chance in life. The winner of The Apprentice will be the team to have raised the most amount of money within the week.
The launch event will be taking place on the 4th March, where further details and further company ideas will be given. During The Apprentice week, teams will be assigned a mentor, to gain further help and advice. All the money needs to be submitted to Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs on the 15th March at 9am.
A Prize Giving will take place on the 18th March, with a guest speaker to be confirmed. 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes will be awarded. This event will be followed by drinks and networking opportunities.
The Princes Trust
The Princes Trust is the Uk’s leading youth charity, helping to change young lives. They help young people aged between 14 and 30 to develop their confidence and skills, and to get children into education, training and employment. We specifically want to donate the funds towards their business start-up efforts, where The Princes Trust work to raise funds to provide start up loans, grants and mentoring to the people they help.
Please fill out this form to enter the Royal Holloway Apprentice Competition:
Posted by John King on February 23, 2010 under Competitions |
Open to all Royal Holloway students and staff
Do you want to unlock the potential of an entrepreneurial idea? Do you have an idea for a sustainable, scalable commercial or social enterprise that needs an injection of cash to show that it could work? A competition is now open to all Royal Holloway students and staff. Up to ten grants of £2,000 are available for staff and student teams who want to show their idea to be worthy of further investment.
Last year 40% of applications were successful.
Teams must include at least one RHUL staff member and one undergraduate or postgraduate student.
Key dates
The application deadline is 5pm on Friday 19th March 2010 and results will be announced on 15th April.
Mini-grant clinics
If you would like some early feedback on your idea, you can meet with the Entrepreneurship Careers Adviser, John King. A drop-in service operates:
10:00 to 11:00 every Tuesday – Careers Service
How to apply
Competition rules and an application form are available from the Research and Enterprise website. For more information please email minigrants@rhul.ac.uk.
Posted by John King on February 10, 2010 under Competitions |
Make Your Mark in the Markets – the competition to give two people the opportunity to turn their entrepreneurial ideas into reality and start trading on a Market of their choice for SIX months for FREE!
What you could win:
- Six months free trading! That’s right, rent free! What could you do with that extra cash?
- £1,000 to support your business.
- Free NMTF membership, which includes public liability insurance.
- Free marketing and advertising for your business, through all partners involved.
- Opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs – share ideas
- Opportunity to test your business, with minimal financial cost to you.
- Free business starter pack, which includes top tips from Matthew Crawford, winner of the first Make Your Mark in the Markets, funding advice, business advice and much more.
Is it for you?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you want to start or grow a business?
- Do you want to turn a hobby in to a business?
- Could your idea or business benefit from a free retail space?
- Do you have an idea for a product or service?
If yes then Make Your Mark in the Markets is right up your street!
Closing date 22nd March 2010.
Posted by John King on under Competitions |
One lucky business wins 6 months free trading in The Mall!
The Make Your Mark in Retail competition is for any small retail business looking to grow. The hardest part of growing your business is getting in front of the right customers. This competition gives the opportunity for one lucky business to do just that and for FREE.
In partnership with Natwest, Enterprise UK and The National Skills Academy, The Mall are offering one lucky business 6 months rent FREE trading in one of their centres on a Retail Merchandising Unit. As well as this they also have a whole host of additional prizes key to ensuring your long term business success.
Make Your Mark In Retail total Prize:
- 6 months free trading in a shopping centre on a Retail Merchandising Unit
- Free business banking for two years
- Access to a business relationship manager to advise you in your financial decisions
- A free place on the National Skills Academy Retail Masterclass
- A free place on the exclusive BSSA Oxford Summer School where you will learn about retail in more depth
The competition prize is worth well over £15,000
Visit The Mall website to enter
Posted by John King on February 9, 2010 under Competitions |
NACUE’s National Varsity Pitch Competition, in partnership with the British Library, is the UK’s premier start-up competition for university students across the country. It celebrates university enterprise by showcasing the brightest young minds and the breadth of businesses coming out of UK universities.
Young entrepreneurs will compete in one of seven industry semi-finals and seven finalists will have the opportunity to move on to the national finale on May 5th at the British Library after receiving a full day of training, one-on-one mentorship and coaching. Pitching to a panel of judges made up of some of the UK’s foremost entrepreneurs, investors, innovators and media personalities, the finalists will pitch for seedfunding, startup support and the National Title.
The deadline is March 1, 2010.
Apply Now!
Posted by John King on under Competitions |
UCL, Lancaster University, The University of York and Queen’s Belfast have teamed up with five Chinese universities to run a competition that has two tracks: one for students and one for existing businesses working with China.
This entrepreneurship competition aims to encourage new business ventures between China and the United Kingdom and is intended to simulate the real-world process of entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early-stage investors and venture capital firms. We are really looking for entrepreneurs and existing small businesses that are doing something innovative in their international links, whether the relationship is customer-supplier, joint R&D, novel marketing – anything different that shows how small companies can thrive across borders and cultures!
The competition is divided into two challenge tracks:
- Innovative Business track (for existing businesses)
- Tomorrow’s Leaders track (for students)
Thirty-two teams will be selected to participate in this competition for up to £9,500 in prizes in the national rounds, together with an investment opportunity of £250,000 for the grand international final!
You can register now at: www.chinaukchallenge.com
Key Dates:
Idea Assessment – 12 March 2010
Semi-Finals – April 2010
National Finals – June 2010
International Grand Final – September 2010
If you would like help with a business idea, email john.king@rhul.ac.uk.
Posted by John King on under Competitions |
The University of Texas and Dell are looking for college students from around the world who want to improve areas of critical human need through innovation.
Providing a vehicle for taking student innovations from idea to reality, Dell’s Social Innovation Competition is a real-world exercise for perfecting your skills in:
- - Project/business plan development
- - Pitching ideas to investors
- - Building resource networks
Do you have groundbreaking idea in mind? With your fortitude and personality, can you mobilize people and resources to affect wide-ranging, scalable social change? If so, register now. Deadline 1st March.
Posted by John King on February 8, 2010 under Competitions |
Could you pitch your business skills against others from across the country to see who can raise the most money for Haiti?
Would you like to make your CV stand out from the crowd?
If so, you are just the kind of Business Hero that Save the Children need.
And that the children affected by the earthquake in Haiti need too.
If you enter the Business Heroes Challenge:
- - You will pitch your business skills against others across the country to see who can raise the most for Haiti.
- - You could win up to £500 funding for your business idea from our sponsors Reckitt Benckiser and Accenture.
- - You could have the opportunity to work with an experienced mentor from Accenture, Barclays or IBM to develop your idea.
- - You will gain skills and experience to build your CV and to help you stand out from the crowd at job interviews.
- - Your ideas and achievements will be visible to companies across the UK who are looking out for great talent.
- - You will tangibly help Haitian children who have been tragically affected by the earthquake.
For the ideas that raise the most money, our sponsors have offered:
- - An internship for summer 2010 with Save the Children (funded by Reckitt Benckiser) for the business that raises the most.
- - A personal career coaching session including CV review, mock interviews and skills sessions for every winning student (provided by Citi).
- - A lunch at Barclay’s Canary Wharf offices for the top 40 fundraisers (provided by Barclays).
Visit the Business Heroes website to enter before the closing date of Sunday 7th March 2010.
