{"id":17394,"date":"2022-10-24T08:27:42","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T07:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/?p=17394"},"modified":"2024-07-30T11:51:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T10:51:28","slug":"business-start-up-journey-canterbury-launch-an-emay-zing-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/2022\/10\/business-start-up-journey-canterbury-launch-an-emay-zing-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Start Up Journey Canterbury Launch an Emay-zing Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Business Start Up Journey launched at our Canterbury Campus on Wednesday 19 October and included special guests Emmanuel Enemokwu, founder of Jehucal<\/a> and Business Start Up Journey winners last year Lorenzo Chinole and Simona Paraskevopoulou, the creators of Plantix.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

A packed lecture theatre attended the launch which included a fun business knowledge quiz, keynote speeches, networking and buffet.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might have an idea for a business, you might not, but it doesn\u2019t matter. We are looking at solving problems in the world around us and how we can turn our passion, our inspiration or our hobby into a business.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will understand how to create a solution, test solutions talking to customers and learn how to build a business around this. Wednesday afternoons will never be the same again!\u201d said Rebecca Smith, External Engagement Manager and one of the ASPIRE team.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rebecca Smith compered the event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 15-week Business Start Up Journey programme through\u202fASPIRE<\/strong><\/a>\u202f(Accelerator Space for Innovation and Enterprise) is based in Kent Business School in the\u202fSibson building<\/a>,\u202fCanterbury<\/a>\u202fand at the\u202fMedway<\/a>\u202fcampus but is open to all university students.<\/p>\n

The initiative is a step-by-step guide to starting a business, teaching students skills that are required to be a successful entrepreneur through interactive workshops and classes delivered by ASPIRE\u2019s entrepreneurs in residence, Jo and John both leaders in the fields of innovation and business. The programme ends with a pitching competition to win \u00a31,000 funding.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s winners, Computer Science student Lorenzo Chinole and Artificial Intelligence student Simona Paraskevopoulou, created a plant self-watering device that is operated via an app. They spoke candidly about creating a business with a simple idea that won against some stiff competition and answered many questions from the audience.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Last year’s winners talking about their business, Plantix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe were in our everyday lives and we decided to get some plants to improve our house,\u201d said Simona. \u201cBut we just couldn\u2019t water them enough to keep them alive. Around that time we also did the Start Up Journey and we realised we had a business idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gathered some ideas and we realised less is more, keep it simple, everyone who comes into this programme and feels they might be the next big thing, but keep it to a minimum, find something everyone has an issue with and find a solution. Make something good and go from there,\u201d concluded Lorenzo.<\/p>\n

The final \u2013 and much anticipated- keynote speech was delivered by Emmanuel Enemokwu, founder of successful streetwear brand Jehucal who sparked excitement in the room with his story of\u00a0 university start up to six figure brand worn by likes of the Arsenal team, collaborating with Nike and Footasylum and featuring in magazines like Vogue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Emay credits the Business Start Up Journey as launching his success<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhere I lived was a very affluent area, kids were wearing Prada to school, I was mocked for not wearing designer labels. I couldn\u2019t afford it so I would sit on my computer all day and look at how they were made,\u201d said Emay \u201cAge 15, I tweeted that I wanted my own clothing brand and it\u2019s still there to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emay continued to explain how ASPIRE and his business education played a pivotal role in launching his dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I\u2019d go to university and get the skills I needed to start my own brand studying Accounting.\u00a0 I made my first t shirt and worked in pizza shop to get me by before I ploughed everything into the brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling of going from a sketch in a notepad to feeling something physical in my hand is is unmatched to anything. It was like a drug to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found out about the Business Start Up Journey and joined. That\u2019s one of the best choices I made during my life. It took the brand from being a hobby to being an actual structured company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From tricky staffing situations to issues with supply, Emay made it clear that the path to success wasn\u2019t always easy providing a relatable and inspiration presentation that saw him inundated with questions from the engaged audience.<\/p>\n

The launch ended food and networking as many students signed up to attend the weekly sessions, held in the ASPIRE space at Sibson and in room at the Medway Building.<\/p>\n

\n

Do you want to develop a business idea or launch a start-up? Are you interested in learning more about entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation? Then ASPIRE, the University-wide space for entrepreneurship and start-ups is here for you.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read about our ASPIRE launch at Medway here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Business Start Up Journey launched at our Canterbury Campus on Wednesday 19 October and included special guests Emmanuel Enemokwu, founder of Jehucal and Business … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74553,"featured_media":17405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[177066,124],"tags":[170949,164121],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17394"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17458,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17394\/revisions\/17458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}