Are you innovative, self-driven and interested in working in a close-knit work environment? Then working in a start-up or SME might be the right career move for you!
On 28 February, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law invited University of Bristol alumni to talk about their experiences in start-ups and SMEs, as part of the ‘How to get into…’ event series.
Read on for our speakers’ top tips for those interested in pursuing a career in the sector, as well as an overview of the sector and some useful links.
The Growth Stage of the New Enterprise Competition (NEC) is just around the corner, with applications open until Friday 5 May.
It’s an incredible opportunity for any new business, with a prize of up to £20,000 of funding.
We caught up with Beverley Samways, one of the runners-up from last year’s finale, who shares some of her insights on the NEC, and her thoughts on what it means to be an entrepreneur!
Beverley’s company, Unique Connections, provides innovative programmes and services to empower young people with disabilities and support them to help them thrive in their communities.
The Development Stage of the New Enterprise Competition (NEC) opens on 28 November for applications until 27 January.
The New Enterprise Competition is the University of Bristol’s flagship start-up competition and will soon be entering its 20th year. The Development Stage is where we can help you turn your start-up idea into a more realised business.
If you have a business idea and would like to take it to the next level then you should absolutely apply now on MyCareer. Read on to find out exactly why should apply for the Development Stage!
It’s Global Entrepreneurship Week this week, which means people all over the world are coming together to celebrate start-ups and new business ideas.
Here at Basecamp, we have a lot of exciting events and opportunities coming up this academic year, to help you get a leg up for your start-up. Read on for more info, as well as some insights from former students who have worked with us and turned their start-up dreams into reality. You can also visit the Global Entrepreneurship website where they have more information, as well as events running all week, online and in-person, all over the world.
How we can support you
‘PlayThru’ is an amazing education tool, designed to bring the fun and innovation of video gaming into a learning environment.
Its creator, Bristol graduate Rose Tan (pictured left), worked closely with us here at Basecamp, and shares her thoughts below:
The Ideation fund is a 7-weekexperimental learning programme, (running between the 2 November- 14 December), which provides applicants with specialist training, support and funding for founders who want to explore and test out an early-stage start-up idea.This programme is sponsored by The Bristol Grid.
My name is Katie, and I am a 2nd year student studying BA French and Spanish.
I completed my SME Internship this June at Treepoints, an online platform start-up which provides support for businesses to take climate action and reduce their carbon emissions.
The internship took place in London, where I covered a variety of tasks over the month including market research, internal auditing, competitor research, developing selection criteria for new partners and bringing on board a new plastic collection partner.(more…)
The New Enterprise Competition drew to a close this year at our celebration event. Route Zero were crowned the winners of the Growth stage, winning £10,000 plus 12-months incubation at SETSquared.
RouteZero was founded by Computer Science graduate Albie-Baker Smith and his co-founder Dan Brown with a mission of stopping catastrophic climate change through their platform which helps individuals and organisations switch out high-emission travel for greener journeys.
“The UK has just experienced its hottest temperatures on record, and winning the competition provides us with the opportunity to attack one of the UK’s highest emission sources: travel. We’d like to say a massive thank you to the New Enterprise Competition and the University of Bristol for catalysing RouteZero’s potential. The investment allows us to accelerate our work with customers and deliver them journeys that are Green, Anywhere, Anyway.”
It has almost been an entire year since Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane, the co-founders of PEEQUAL, won the New Enterprise Competition (NEC) – Growth Stage. We were keen to catch-up with them, to hear all about their success since winning £15,000 in last year’s NEC competition.
Can you summarise what PEEQUAL is?
PEEQUAL is the UK’s first free-standing women’s urinal, making it quick, safe, and sustainable for women to pee at events.
Why did you choose to apply for the NEC last year?
The Ideas stage for the New Enterprise Competition is open for applications for another week. For the opportunity to test out your idea by pitching to us and to win up to £200 in equity free funding, what have you got to lose?
We caught up with Shabaj, who created the Success Program, a sports journaling app, which was awarded funding from the Ideas stage of the Competition last year.
In a nutshell, what is your start-up idea and where did the idea come from?
I’m working on a sports journaling app that allows individuals to track their weightlifting performance and provides customers with a quantitative measure of how their training programme is impacting their performance. Having our customers reflect on what they achieved on their last workout allows them to compete against themselves from one workout to the next.
The aim of the game is progression, but how can you know if you are progressing if you aren’t tracking your results?
I’m not the strongest person in the gym, by far. Often, if I push myself more than I am physically capable of and I get an injury. I got tired of repeating the same mistake and started to record my workouts in a notebook. However, I got fed up with flicking through the pages to find what weights, reps and sets I should do. I also lost more pens in the gym than most students do in three years at university. So I decided to build an app to think and carry less in the gym.
Have you always been interested in entrepreneurship? What inspired you to get into it?
I let my curiosity direct where I put my attention- which has its own set of pros and cons! My journey into entrepreneurship is more self-centred than most. From the projects I worked on, I always had a personal connection with problem I was trying to solve. Since I couldn’t find a product or service that met my needs, I would find out how I can create my own solution. If I have that problem, someone else might too.
With £200 up for grabs which can go towards supporting you and developing your start-up, what’s to loose? In case you need any more convincing as to why you should submit an application, here are our top three reasons why you should apply.
The accelerator comprises of ten workshops which include everything you need to know when starting up, including understanding your customer and pitching your idea. On completing the programme, you’ll also receive an endorsement badge and you’ll have constant opportunities to enhance your network. Apply to take part in the accelerator today as attending these workshops will help you feel ready for you pitch for the competition!