On Saturday 24 September 2012, students heard speakers who explained why enterprise is so vital to the economy and why every student, regardless of career path, needs to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
Speakers included:
Doug Richard, successful entrepreneur and active angel investor, with over 25 years' experience in the development and leadership of high technology and software ventures. Doug featured in the first two TV series of Dragons' Den. In his time he has started, grown and sold 4 companies, run a NASDAQ listed public software company, invested in over 20 startups, invested over US$120Million into high tech companies in the UK as an institutional investor and taught over 10,000 people how to start their own company through his social Enterprise School for Startups. In his words "Entrepreneurship can be taught and must be learned".
James Hay is currently head of enterprise partnerships at SwiftKey, transforming mobile text entry making it faster, easier and more personal. Straight out of university, James co-founded a technology business (Splashpower) which allowed users to power up their mobile phones and other portable devices simply by placing them on a wireless recharging base. Splashpower was bought out in 2008 by Alticor Inc. Amongst other ventures, he has also worked with a startup business (Global Nomad) in rural China, which employs Tibetan nomads with a vision for helping the development of the local area.
Antonia Kime, entrepreneur and founder of Queen of Cupcakes, has taken a hobby in 2009 and turned it in to a successful business. It started when she made 500 delicious cupcakes to sell at a fair stall and made £800. In just three months of selling her cupcakes, she made £14,000. Antonia now bakes up to 5,000 and 6,000 cupcakes every week, in between school runs, and sells them all over the country. She prides herself on using the best ingredients to produce delicious cupcakes that look spectacular. Her hard work is paying off and she is now thinking of expanding her business and taking on staff.