of Entrepreneurship
Dr Claire Hookham
Williams, is leading
a new initiative to
encourage students
skills by starting up their own
businesses.
guidance and practical support to
second-year students on the
Entrepreneurship module, enabling
them to translate their business
ideas into profitable enterprises.
groups, deliberately mixing them
with people they don't normally
work with, so that they could operate
more professionally," said Claire.
come up with an idea, then we
provided them with a business
bank account, a year's insurance
and offered our support to help
them to develop their proposals."
undergraduate students to
experience a real business
environment and to put into
practice the skills that they acquire
in lectures.
becoming increasingly popular in
universities across the country and
has clear benefits both
institutionally and for the students
involved," said Claire.
Enterprise Strategy and the
Innovation Nation White Paper
identified the need for universities
and colleges to become more
entrepreneurial, and at ULMS
we are striving to develop areas
of professional excellence in
practising entrepreneurship
and to raise students' motivation
for entrepreneurial life after
graduation."
initiative has the option to buy
shares in their own company to a
maximum value of £10 and, if the
business is profitable, they are able
to split the profit between them. In
order to be assessed on their work
they must complete a group
portfolio and produce a three-
minute podcast in the form of a
Dragons' Den style pitch.
also invited to take part in a trade
fair, supported by national
education charity Young Enterprise,
where each business was given its
own stall. More than 300 students
from across the University took part,
with over 25 new businesses and
social enterprises showcasing their
ideas. After the fair an awards
ceremony was held to recognise
the most successful companies.
of weeks of activity and preparation
by the groups, who had all worked
really hard to develop financially
viable companies," said Claire.
"Some of these businesses have
already secured contracts with local
shops and boutiques and a handful
of teams are aspiring to continue
their activities beyond the remit of
the course, which is really
encouraging."