Young entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas at University

Wednesday 11 July 2012

The event is taking place on Alumni day when more than a thousand people are expecting to visit the campus including local business representatives who will be at the Surrey Business School event.

Professor David Goss, Head of Surrey Business School at the University, said: “The University of Surrey takes great pride in its promotion of an enterprising spirit amongst its students, most notably through its championing of professional and industry training placements and the encouragement of spin-out businesses.

“Over recent years this activity has been supplemented by a growing commitment to Student Enterprise and Entrepreneurship: encouraging students to engage in business development activities with either a commercial or social focus.  This is now flourishing and we can boast some of the UK’s most impressive and pioneering young entrepreneurs.   

“Nurturing this talent for enterprise is a strategic priority for Surrey Business School and we are investing substantially in its development.  We believe that an enterprising spirit is an asset to all students, whether they intend to seek employment or start their own ventures.”

Among the pitches during the sessions will be concepts from the following sectors:

• Film and promotional media
• Consultancy and research projects
• Fashion and textiles
• Social enterprise and projects in developing countries
• Bicycle parking, street furniture and garden office solutions
• Technical web development, software and applications

Some of the ideas include:

SIFE
Matt Burton & Abtahee Islam

SIFE Surrey (Students in Free Enterprise) is a successful and expanding student society at the University and part of the growing network of SIFE groups all around the world.  We believe in being the change you wish to see in the world, and using your initiative and talent to make a real difference, while making lifelong friends along the way.  The motto of the society is to impact people who are in need through the positive force of business.

SIFE is an international non-profit organization that works with the top business leaders to enable students to make a difference within their communities while developing their own personal skills to become socially responsible business leaders of the future. It provides students with a global network of business executives, academic leaders and industry experts.

SIFE is the greatest opportunity students will discover at University to apply business concepts to real life situations and develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need all over the world.”

Web:       http://sifesurrey.org.uk/
Email:      info@sifesurrey.org.uk

Blueelephant
Daniel Speller
Bluelephant is a new brand of frozen yoghurt developed by Daniel Speller, Stephen Myers and Cat Aylwin.  Although it is a staple treat for sweet-toothed snackers in the United States, frozen yoghurt remains something of a novelty on these shores and the Bluelephant trio aim to use the thriving student market to broaden its appeal.
The business got off the ground thanks to a loan the partners earned during a pitching competition at the University.  Although it is early days for the Bluelephant Team, they have already set their sights on taking their brand to university campuses across Britain.
Contact:   07585 558816

Azlyn
Noel Azirar

Azlyn is an ethical collection of unique fitted reversible blazers for men and women produced in Morocco. Founded in 2011, Azlyn is dedicated to increasing employment and developing skills within the community.   Azlyn is also keen to raise worldwide awareness for a sustainable future.

The word Azlyn is a spelling variant of Aislyn, which is of Irish Gaelic origin, and means "dream" or "a vision". It is also the combination of the founder’s names Az-Azirar and Lyn-Lynch.  The first Azlyn clothing collection will be sold in Spitalfields market on June 27th 2012.   Azlyn will then be sold through e-commerce and fashion retailers in the near future.   

Web:    www.Azlyn.co.uk
Phone: 07772 815016
Email:  Noelazirar@gmail.com

KPatrick Projects
Kevin Patrick

Kevin Patrick is a first-year student in the Surrey Business School and Managing Director of KPatrick Projects.  Through this company he aims to create, inspire and motivate enterprise predominately aimed at young people.  Kevin manages 5 brands including custom clothing label ‘Team Tops’, fashion brand ‘Label Noire’, the London Cotton Company, the Young Entrepreneurs Club and most recently Patrick Metals.   Kevin was awarded the World’s Youngest Entrepreneur Award by Barclays in 2008 for setting up a business account with them at the age of 14.  He is Vice-President of the Surrey Entrepreneurs society.

Web: www.team-tops.co.uk
Web: www.label-noire.co.uk

D3TEX         
William Lanham-New
William Lanham-New is the founder and inventor of D3TEX, a pioneering company leading the way in innovative non-invasive approaches for combating vitamin D deficiency in veiled Muslim Women using a technical fabric that allows sunlight to pass directly through to the skin thereby facilitating vitamin D production for the user.
Web: http://d3tex.blogspot.co.uk/
Email: contact@d3tex.com

Thoughtified
Georgios Michalakidis and Aaron Mason
Thoughtified is an experienced team of developers, designers, geniuses and code monkeys that work around the clock to create the best cloud-based software systems.

Thoughtified was created in 2009 by
Aaron Mason and Georgios Michalakidis, gathering numerous awards as they initially developed location-aware and data processing technologies. As the team has grown, focus has remained on developing intelligent software for internet-based systems within the geographic, enterprise and mobile environments. Thoughtified makes it easy to commission custom built, technically advanced software systems and Web platforms.

Web:  http://www.thoughtified.com/
Email:  hq@thoughtified.com

Acamedium
Hadi Farnoud
Acamedium is a web and app development agency, offering a wide variety of affordable services to businesses. Acamedium also offers website and project-based solutions to the academic research community in higher education  using its own tailored version of OpenScholar.
This makes it possible to create academic websites in minutes with a suite of powerful tools from which users can facilitate the creation, distribution, and preservation of knowledge faster and more efficiently in the cloud.

With many sleek themes, add-on features, and social collaboration tools Acamedium represents a paradigm shift in how industry and academics are communicating.  The company’s next project is a social networking platform for start-up companies to help them get the funding they need, with potentially other services like finding co-founders, accountants, stationery, etc.

Web:   http://www.acamedium.co.uk/
Email:  info@acamedium.co.uk  

Bike Dock Solutions
James Nash and Josh Coleman

Bike Dock Solutions is a ‘one stop shop’  for bike-parking products, which offers both standardised and bespoke products and installation services to a wide range of markets including businesses, education, contractors, local authorities and home users.  The company is an official supplier to both the Transport for London Barclays  Superhighway Scheme and the London 2012 Olympics.

Bike Dock Solutions has recently launched into mainland Europe through its e-commerce, fully translated website www.bikesafe.eu. This is a huge growth market for Bike Dock Solutions and an area where they are expecting rapid growth.  The company’s founders have also launched two new companies in the last 24 months:  Shelterstore which specialises in street security and street furniture products and Hudson Garden Rooms Ltd specialising in high quality garden rooms, pods and offices.

Web:  http://www.bikedocksolutions.com/    Web: http://www.hudsongardenrooms.com
Web:  http://www.shelterstore.co.uk/            Email: info@bikedocksolutions.com