Flurry of awards for Manchester's entrepreneurs
Published on 16 May 13
Venture Further enterprise competition winners announced, and Manchester Entrepreneurs society wins national award
Venture Further
The winners of the Venture Further 2013 business start-up competition have been announced. Twelve teams of student finalists from The University of Manchester battled it out for the top prizes across three categories.
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Naomi Wilde, a BSc Fashion and Textiles Retailing student, took first prize in the Business category for Fair-T – a business with an ambition to ‘make fair-trade fashionable’. In the Social category, Master of Enterprise student Christina Taylor claimed the top prize with her Aspire Studios dance school venture aimed at disadvantaged children, young people and adults. Anna King and Natalie Cureton, both PhD students from the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences won first prize in the Technology category. Their business LipoPep is based on a novel nanocarrier that targets existing drugs directly and selectively to the placenta to treat placental abnormalities.
Awards were presented by Manchester graduate and Co-Founder of Barburrito Paul Kilpatrick, fellow Manchester graduate and MD of SKV Communications Andrew Spinoza and Ecovision Systems Founder Peter Randall.
On winning the Business category Naomi said: “I couldn't believe it! I am so excited to see what the future holds for Fair-T. It was such an amazing competition to be involved in and I was up against some tough competition.”
Winners of first prize in each category were awarded £10,000 and second prize winners received £2,500 to help their businesses to get off to a flying start.
Technology category winner Anna King explained: “The prize money and prestige gained from winning the competition will be invaluable to the further development of our business. It has given us the confidence and support to take LipoPep from an idea in the lab to a product that will be the first targeted treatment for pregnancy complications.”
Venture Further is an annual competition run by Manchester Business School’s Centre for Enterprise Learning and is open to all students and recent alumni at The University of Manchester.
Lynn Sheppard, Centre for Enterprise Learning Director, commented: “It provides an ideal opportunity to encourage and support students in taking their business ideas to the next stage and on the road to success.”
Manchester Entrepreneurs society
A team of University of Manchester students have scooped the University Society of the Year award from the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE).
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They received their accolade at the NACUE Annual Society Awards Dinner, held at the prestigious Institute of Directors in London.
Manchester Entrepreneurs, one of over 85 enterprise societies in the Higher education network, beat off stiff competition to scoop the award.
This award recognizes events, competitions and activities, which help students to engage with enterprise and entrepreneurship, and serve as a platform to develop more businesses in the community.
The society has helped student startups, connected with incubators and investors from the Greater Manchester area while hosting over 35 events that range from inspirational talks to educational workshops and conferences.
Dan Sodergren, one of the judges, said: “Manchester Entrepreneurs becoming the NACUE University Society of the Year in 2013 is testimony not only to the great marketing work of this year's crop of new talent but of four years hard work which finally has been noticed. What other society has had such a viral marketing campaign? With 800,000 YouTube views and counting. Truly impressive. Very proud to have been a small part of it all.”