Posted by president on September 12, 2011 under News, Royal Holloway Businesses | 
We have an exciting project launching for students who want to sell products/services on campus. If y
ou have a business already or have had the idea for a business selling products or services, NOW is the time to get involved.
What is it?
- An Argos style system where you can display products/services for sale in the SU 24/7
- NO stall fees, hours spent setting up, nightmares about marketing and cash handling
- Quick AND Easy way for you to make money. So come and advertise and promote your enterprise!
What do I get from it?
- Money
- Free advertising
- Business Experience
- The chance to try out having your own business
What do I have to do?
Posted by hilary on July 19, 2011 under News, People, Royal Holloway Businesses |
Jack Lenox has been commended for his “outstanding entrepreneurial business idea” at the Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards. His website, jottify.com which he dubs the “flickr for writers”, enables budding authors to post their work online where members can add comments and rate it and publishing companies can sign up to scout for new talent.
A total prize fund of £44,000 was on offer for undergraduate and postgraduate students who submitted the strongest entrepreneurial propositions, providing them with the means to develop their ideas further.
Jack impressed judges with his online community for budding writers, beating 47 entries from universities across the UK to first prize and earning him a £5,000 grant.
Posted by John King on June 23, 2011 under People, Royal Holloway Businesses |
Louis Mech, a social entrepreneur and member of Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs, had the opportunity of meeting Richard Branson at the Virgin entrepreneur’s expansive estate, as part of the Fast Track 100 conference.
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.”
Posted by John King on February 21, 2011 under Royal Holloway Businesses |
Two successful alumni entrepreneurs – in the fields of Drama and Finance – will speak at this year’s Creative Careers Forum in the Windsor Auditorium on 2 March from 6 pm onwards.
Fran Miller graduated in 2009 and co-founded non zero one, a theatre company in which she acts as Artist and Producer, producing interactive work and working closely with touring venues. Last year non zero one performed their début piece ‘Would Like to Meet’ at the Barbican, and this year they are performing at Latitude Festival as well as other venues across the UK.
Last year’s forum proved extremely popular so, if you plan to attend, you must book a place in advance – register @ www.rhul.ac.uk/careers/events.
Posted by John King on February 16, 2011 under News, Royal Holloway Businesses |
Royal Holloway students have continued their run of entrepreneurial competition wins by taking top prizes in the WestFocus Bright Ideas competitions and receiving UnLtd grants totalling £5,750.
Luka Blackman-Gibbs, Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs’ President 2010-11 won a £1,000 Bright Ideas grant and £3,500 from UnLtd for Study Buddy, her pioneering online skills exchange. Luka said, “Winning these awards is a vote of confidence for Study Buddy. Being a member of Study Buddy can increase your skills base, your employability and hopefully your grades. The scheme is flexible around your timetable, you can have unlimited numbers of buddies, or just exchange quick tips in the students forums.”
Luka has received more than £7,500 in funding since starting the project from four different sources.
Louis Mech, winner of the Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs’ Dragons’ Den competition, received a £1,000 top prize in the Bright Futures competition. His VEO social enterprise gives a pair of adjustable spectacles to a person in need for every pair of sunglasses you purchase. Louis said, “VEO promises to never forget why a group of friends started this company. We were young, ambitious and out to change the world. We still are.”
Both Louis and Luka also won support and mentoring through the Startup Smart competition.
If you are thinking of starting a business and need some funding, you can get advice on entering competitions and a list of competitions you can enter.
Posted by John King on February 1, 2011 under Competitions, Royal Holloway Businesses |
Royal Holloway students have won several awards at the national Startup Smart competition run by author and entrepreneur, Robin Bennett. The prizes will include help with set up costs, including help approaching investors, professional planning to get the company off the ground, one year’s mentoring, hands-on support when required and access to business networking.
The winners include:
- Study Buddy, a peer skills exchange run by Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs’ President Luka Blackman-Gibbs
- VEO eyewear, a social enterprise brand run by Louis Mech
- Michaela Belony’s natural haircare products for Afro-Caribbean people
Also shortlisted was last years’ President Jack Lenox, for eNovella, the online literary magazine and social network.
Congratulations to all our winner, who won more than half the prizes! If you want to emulate them then visit the Royal Holloway competitions page.
Posted by John King on December 7, 2010 under Royal Holloway Businesses, Social Enterprise |
VEO, Louis Mech’s new social enterprise eyewear brand, has been invited to participate in a Q&A by The Guardian Newspaper, one of the UK’s most read newspapers reaching 1.2 million readers daily. The feature looks to highlight new social enterprise endeavors, tackling the big question of ‘raising capital for your SE company.’
Louis, a longstanding member of Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs, told us, “The Guardian has a superb social enterprise section and we are really proud to have been chosen!”
Tune in to hear Louis and other social entrepreneurs discuss social enterprise finance on The Guardian website.
For more information about VEO eyewear visit the VEO website.
Posted by John King on December 1, 2010 under Royal Holloway Businesses |
At idelica.com you’ll find fabulous food and drink from carefully-selected producers on the Continent, often the result of following age-old family or local recipes and using ingredients of incredible quality. These foods are finely-tuned using the producer’s passion for perfection and their investment in new food research and technologies to make their foods fit for commercial export, being certain to replicate – and some cases exceed – the quality of their traditional, hand-produced predecessors.
Idelica was started by Emma Lopez-Johnson who started out in the speciality food industry by co-founding the Spanish food import and distribution company Edeli Ltd in 2005. Most of her previous adult life was spent working in publishing in London, but she grew up in Dorset on big rations of the famous Andalucian appetite for life and tapas inflicted by the Spanish family on her father’s side on countless Summer visits to Almeria.
Buy your christmas hamper from idelica today!
Posted by John King on September 14, 2010 under Events, Royal Holloway Businesses |
If you are missing Jack Lenox (our founding President) already, then you’ll be pleased to hear that his new project, eNovella, is appearing as part of the SW11 Literary Festival in South London. If you’re nearby, you can pop along and see him at the following events:
• 16th September, 7pm – Bobbie Darbyshire and Nicholas Royle – So you want to be a writer? Making the pages turn – two fiction writers spill the beans on how it’s done. Come and talk to them about writing and pitching your book.
• 19th September, 2pm & 4:30pm – Creative Writing Workshop: Structuring a story for fiction. Alex Wheatle.
• 21st September, 7pm – Isabel Losada – How to get published
All of these events are being held in Waterstones, 70 St John’s Road, Clapham, London SW11 1PT.
To publish your creative writing on a global platform – or read others’ work for free – visit www.enovella.co.uk.
Posted by John King on under People, Royal Holloway Businesses |
Jessica Ratcliffe, a founding committee member of Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs, recently faced tough questioning from angel investors on the hit BBC TV show, Dragons’ Den.
First broadcast on BBC Two on Monday 13th September 2010, Jessica pitched for investment for her game-swapping website, GaBoom.co.uk. A passionate gamer and entrepreneur, Jess has been working tirelessly since January 2010, to develop and launch her dream game-trading platform, GaBoom.co.uk. “We have developed a safe, easy and unique way of trading games online; providing users, not only with our automatic user-matching system but two secure and insured postage options to take the hassle and risk out of trading their games online.” says Jess.
Jess told the Dragons the support she had received at Royal Holloway, one of the UK’s top destinations for student entrepreneurs, had been a critical factor in helping her to build her business. As a committee member of Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs, the student enterprise society, she has also inspired other students to follow their dreams.
Jess believes that pre-owned games will remain the choice of many gamers across the UK. “With approximately 12.4 million people in the UK currently buying their games second-hand, it is going to take something massive for all of them to switch to only buying their games brand new,” she says.
Doug Richard, who featured as a Dragon in the first two series of the show, thinks the current Dragons made a mistake by not investing. He told the BBC that GaBoom presents a “clear and wonderful opportunity… Jessica, wherever you are, there’s one ex-Dragon who believes in you.”
You can watch Jessica’s performance on BBC iPlayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/jessicaratcliffe.shtml
Gamers who wish to swap a game can do so now at www.gaboom.co.uk.
For more information about Royal Holloway’s services for student entrepreneurs, visit http://www.rhul.ac.uk/careers/students/entrepreneurship/home.aspx.
