A virtual pitching final saw four student start-ups share the prize money in this year\u2019s Business Start-Up Journey.<\/p>\n
Measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic<\/a> meant the programme\u2019s usual Dragons Den format had to switch to a virtual contest, with students pre-recording their pitches for submission to the judges.<\/p>\n The businesses were scored in categories including sustainability, scalability, innovation and financial viability.<\/p>\n From a strong field, the winners were:<\/strong><\/p>\n Lewis, a Stage 2 Kent Business School<\/a> student from Canterbury<\/a>, John, a final year Biology student, and Alan, in his final year studying Philosophy and Politics, will receive \u00a31,000 per business towards their start-up costs.<\/p>\n Runners up were:<\/strong><\/p>\n Phoebe, a Stage 4 KBS Business and Management<\/a> student from Medway<\/a> campus, and Molly, a Stage 2 Sports Science student also from Medway, receive \u00a3500 each towards their start-up costs. Other businesses in the pitching finals included RR Collective, a sustainable fashion business upcycling Nigerian rubbish into jewellery and Talking Heads, a documentary film exploring ways to reunite a fragmented UK society.<\/p>\n Lewis said: \u201cThe Business Start Up Journey<\/a> has been an incredible experience allowing us to create and develop our business ideas. Through the help of the amazing mentors, program leaders and industry professionals, I have been able to build The Reality Room idea into something tangible. Thank you to all the judges for the feedback and opportunity to progress The Reality Room further! Now the next steps in developing the software and hardware in order to bring it to life!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Judges included Daniel Rubin, founder of the international footwear brand, Dune London<\/a>, Dean Johnson, Managing Director of international medi-tech company Haag Streit UK and Emay Enemokwu, a KBS graduate and Business Start-Up Journey finalist who founded the successful streetwear brand Jehu-cal<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Business Start-Up Journey is supported by philanthropic donation including funding from Santander Universities<\/a>. It is part of the University\u2019s Study Plus programme<\/a> and open to students from any subject or level of study.<\/p>\n The Business Start-Up Journey takes students through all the stages of setting up a business \u2013 from finding and testing an idea of building marketing plans and understanding financials. It offers a combination of exciting practical and interactive workshops and one-to-one support.<\/p>\n All of the finalists will continue to be supported by the ASPIRE (Accelerator Space for Innovation and Responsible Enterprise) which is the University\u2019s flagship space for student business support and entrepreneurial skills development.<\/p>\n Those ways include:<\/strong><\/p>\n Find out more about ASPIRE<\/a> and register your interest in next year\u2019s Business Start-Up Journey programme<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
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