In March, the University of Kent hosted The Business Start Up Journey pitching finals, where 12 student businesses went head-to-head in a bid for the top prize of £1,000.
From supporting mental health through floristry, to using robotics and AI to improve efficiency in business and networking, the Kent students pitched a range of innovative and ambitious projects. The finalists included our own Stage 3 English Language and Linguistics student, Sandra Adjei Eyison, who presented her project IntentionAll – a collection of fun bookmarks to make studying a more pleasurable experience.
Sandra’s business plan was born from a desire to provide a reliable and sustainable alternative to the study materials currently available. She says ‘distressing instances of index tabs damaging important reference pages’ led her to create a new product that protects your page by removing the glue element altogether.
Her design is centred around the familiar technology of paperclips, utilising interactive illustrations that allow you to tab pages by emotions or other thoughts related to relevant passages. There are currently 25 different designs available in the product line, all of which are reusable, meaning customers save money (and the environment!).
Sandra credits her English Language and Linguistics degree with providing her with the transferable skills to build the brand. She says ‘through my degree, I’ve developed presentation expertise and the ability to structure a compelling argument with systematic research. I’ve also had the opportunity to gain pitching experience through the ‘Writing in the Media: A Practical Approach’ module, where each week we pitched ideas for publication on the module’s Medium platform’.
Kent’s External Engagement Manager Rebecca Smith, who oversees ASPIRE, said: ‘Pitching finals are a snapshot of just some of the amazing students we have worked with over the year and once again the diversity of businesses being presented is really phenomenal.
‘It’s so exciting to be working with these amazing entrepreneurs who have such brilliant ideas and such passion to help make the world a better place. It makes me feel very optimistic for the future – something that’s really needed right now!’
Sandra’s current focus is developing the online presence of the IntentionAll brand, the first step of which is to ensure all the designs are listed on her Etsy storefront. Moving forward she aims to build her own brand website and reach out to local retailors with samples and a wholesale catalogue to stock her products in their stores.
We wish Sandra all the best with the future of the brand!