Congratulations to the University of Kent participants of the Santander Universities competition – now through to the semi-final this summer!
Kent alumni Josh Clarke (School of Psychology) and Joe Shepherd (School of History) have secured their place in a semi-final in the tech category with OCCUMI – a platform aiming to help graduates improve their employability through transferrable skills identification.
Our non-tech category semi-finalists Saga Rad (Law School) and Daniella Golden (School of Politics and International Relations, alumna) presented TODO – an online platform for engaging volunteers and providing an opportunity for ethical shopping and meaningful events.
Both teams are going to present their ideas at the next level in London in June to a panel of experienced judges.
Santander Universities run an annual Entrepreneurship Award competition among participating universities in the UK with the aim to give a financial boost to student and graduate business ventures in their early stages.
Santander Universities was first created in Spain in 1996 by Emilio Botín, who recognised that universities play an important role in society. He believed that Santander should support these institutions through the provision of scholarships, mobility awards, entrepreneurship funding and much more. Santander Universities now has close to 1,200 university partners spanning across 20 countries. In 2007 the scheme was launched in the UK and now has partnerships with over 80 universities. The Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards was launched in 2011. Since then, it has grown to be one of the UK’s largest student and graduate business pitching competitions. The programme rewards entrepreneurs by offering cash prizes, mentoring and start-up support and have so far given away more than £340,000 to start-ups and small businesses.
The competition is divided into two streams: technology and non-technology business. Each university partner can submit a maximum of one entry per category.
This year University of Kent has submitted two entries and both were invited to take the next step in to the regional competition!
The Hub for Innovation and Enterprise is running various competitions throughout the year, please, check online here.