Surrey graduate company selected as finalist in The National Business Awards

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Bike Dock Solutions, a bike parking company, is a finalist in the Small Online Business of the Year category of the National Business Awards. BSc Business Management students Josh Coleman, James Nash and Craig Jones, were inspired to set up the company while studying the entrepreneurship module of the course. Part of the module requires students to think up real business ideas and helps them shape them into realistic ventures and it was then that the idea for the business was formed. Each of the three graduates borrowed £10,000 to kick start the company on leaving the business school and since then they have won contracts with clients such as the University of Reading, various councils and Transport for London.

 

Josh says he found studying at Surrey Business School, and in particular, the entrepreneurship module “inspiring”. “I do think there is a strong entrepreneurial culture at Surrey, there's a real buzz and a feeling that you can achieve your goals,” he says. “I think it was what drove me to set up on my own.”

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on 13 November 2012.

Josh and James (Craig left the company in 2009) have since started other sub-companies, selling garden rooms and all kinds of street furniture.

Josh says Bike Dock Solutions is delighted to be a finalist for The National Business Awards.

“Although we left Surrey Business School in 2008 it feels very recent,” he says. “To see Bike Dock Solutions in the same finals list as business giants like Groupon and Sainsburys is a bizarre experience! Of course it would be great to win, but getting this far after competing with so many other UK businesses already feels like a fantastic achievement.”