Kent Business School’s highly anticipated Enterprise Day received a record number of attendees in 2015. 160 students and guests filled the lecture theatre to hear three award-winning Kent alumni guest entrepreneurs speak about starting a business and participate in creative workshops on start-ups.
The Vice Chancellor, Dame Julia Goodfellow was also in attendance to present prizes to the winners of the University of Kent’s 50th Anniversary Pitch It! t-shirt competition along with the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Phillipe de Wilde.
The afternoon featured presentations from three entrepreneurs and alumni of University of Kent, Bal Sandher, Young Business Entrepreneur of 2014; Sebastian Brock, Chatoo App Developer and Neil Westwood, BBC Dragons’ Den winner.
Neil Westwood, the brains behind Magic Whiteboard ™ , coined by Theo Paphitis as ‘most successful Dragons’ Den investment of all time,’ shared top tips on how to make £1 million profit with aspiring entrepreneurs. He commented, “It was good to come back to Kent and interesting to hear from [other enthusiastic young entrepreneurs].”
The feedback received from the audience was also encouraging as one student reported, “I wasn’t sure how to start my business, but after today it became clear.”
The workshops and Q & A session with the panel members also proved successful as students discussed their own business start-up ideas including a cooking app for students on a budget.
Another participant said, “I feel it will help me in my future career. Meeting successful entrepreneurs and doing workshops has really helped to develop my commercial awareness.”
This year’s successful Enterprise Day was also part of the University’s 50th anniversary.
As competition winner, Jacob Roberts-Mensah of KBS was awarded the top prize of £500. His t-shirt design will be available to purchase as official University merchandise this year. Shanell Grandez-Vitaliano and Manuel Crepin were also congratulated for their designs and received a £100 prize.
“Enterprise Day gets bigger and bigger each year,” said David Williamson, the School’s Director of External Services. “More than ever before, our students are showing an interest in starting their own business and this reflects a growing national trend. Perhaps the key takeaway from this year’s event was the importance of market research and anticipating customer demands”