Being an entrepreneur while studying is not an easy task. The School of Business and Management has been helping young entrepreneurs for over 10 years. We are proud to have supported a number of our students to develop their inspiring business ideas.
Major Mixer is a society club with a mission to enhance students' career prospects by providing them with valuable insights from a wide range of UK industries. The club was founded earlier this year by Lijun Hou, along with friends Mikhail Andreev, Endrit Haziri, Zhishan Huang, Syed Izhaan, and Yasi Ranjbar. The founders believe that Major Mixer will be able to bring together a diverse group of students and create a vibrant, inspiring, and supportive community.
ET Collect won the Hult Prize regionals in Oslo (2019), with their winning idea to partner with businesses and cities in Egypt, to create products from recycled rubbish. Their forecast of creating 30,000 jobs gained the attention of the Egyptian Ambassador, who met with them to discuss their idea. The team also won access to the exclusive Hult Prize 5 week global accelerator in the same year.
SBM alumnus Marcos Souto Ulloa graduated with an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in 2020, and won a Young Innovator’s Award for developing a revolutionary plastic alternative made from seaweed.
Sweed is a sustainable seaweed material which decomposes safely in the ocean. Sweed's product is a home-compostable, marine-safe bio-packaging material, which combats the reliance on single-use plastic in packaging solutions.
Unlike other bio-plastic materials, seaweed uses no fertilisers, no pesticides, no land, and no freshwater.
Marcos Souto Ulloa, MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation 2019-2020
AlgaX won the Hult Prize regionals in Santo Domingo (2020) with their idea of speeding up the transition to sustainable food through the sustainable and modular production of Omega 3 and plant-based protein. They also won access to the exclusive Hult Prize five-week global accelerator the same year.
Speaking about their success, the team said:
"Our journey first started with entrepreneurship sessions run by Dr Evangelos Markopoulos. He introduced us to a UN-sponsored accelerator, which we would go on to compete in. Every year over 150,000 student start-ups across the globe apply for a chance to win a spot in the Hult Prize accelerator and compete for $1million in seed capital. Only 33 teams were selected. During the accelerator the team was able to receive mentorship from executives, leaders and investors across the globe. This has been vital in devising a successful business plan. Combined with the support from Dr Evangelos, we are confident that GoTaza is a start-up to watch."
BURG aims to create alternatives to conventional meat using bug-based food. This will be achieved by turning crickets from a common pest into a universal tasty, healthy and environmentally-sustainable product, with green packaging and lower production and transport cost than any other meat source.
The Burg team said:
“The world is beginning to realise the environmental impacts of the growing agriculture industry. We believe that saving the environment and improving peoples' quality of life can be done without affecting our diet; it can even be the solution itself. We offer an alternative to conventional meat patties, made out of crickets, which have astonishing environmental and health benefits compared to any other white or red meat, and even vegetarian options. Our product is one of the healthiest products on the market, which is affordable, sustainable and delicious.”
RepEat XP provides appropriately priced and nutritionally balanced recipes that are accurately adjusted to your dietary specifications.
“We develop meal plans and shopping lists based on your profile and other specifications as budget, maximising the value of your weekly spend. We do the work for you, just type your details and preferences. RepEat is a fully guided service, focused on an enjoyable, hassle-free cooking experience. We will show you the exact products you need to buy, and the preparation steps for how to cook each of the recipes.”
Oleksandra Kalyta, MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2019-2020
NanoFlex is a data-driven influencer marketing agency. The company will help SMEs promote their goods and services through nano-influencer partners, who are ordinary social media users with 1000-10,000 followers. This approach will see higher engagement than traditional influencer marketing, because of the higher trust levels associated with smaller profiles.
Team: Raphael Tausig (UK), James McLeish (UK), Harry McNair (UK), Atiporn Rungruengray Apkul (Thailand).