Pioneering entrepreneurship programme open for business
Budding entrepreneurs took part in a pioneering programme led by the University of Bradford to establish new businesses and social enterprises.
The intensive four-day Accelerated Staff and Community Entrepreneurship Programme workshop, which is part of the Bradford-Renduchintala Enterprise Ecosystem (BREE), ran from Tuesday 23 July to Friday 26 July.
The programme is pioneering in that it actively encourages university staff to set up businesses whilst working at the university, and in that it encourages collaboration between staff and community members to build strong and diverse founder teams.
Ideas and talent
BREE Director Professor Paul Thorning, pictured above, said: “This event marks the beginning of a journey for staff and community entrepreneurs and for the University. With this entrepreneurial programme we aim to build an ecosystem that enables anyone, on or off campus, to take business ideas from concept to market, by harnessing university resources and expertise with the ideas and talent of our vibrant, entrepreneurial city.
“The University has leading capabilities in management, community development, engineering, healthcare, digital and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, all of which can help to power the creation and growth of new enterprise.”
The workshop included 20 participants, with 14 staff members (both academic and professional services) and six members of the community.
At the end of the first workshop, entrepreneurs, pictured below, got to pitch their ideas to a panel comprising Mark Platts, from the Prince’s Trust and Rowena Thomas from Emerald Publishing.
First of many
Business ideas included schemes to recycle used car tyres, biome-based skin care products, a ‘modest’ clothing range, novel treatments for brain cancer, learning platforms for children and even board games.
Workshops included talks from guest speakers who volunteered their time, including alumni Absalom Ngara, founder of MATN Healthcare, Paul Clarke from UK Business Mentoring, intellectual property expert Anna Brewin and Bolu Fagborun, former professional rugby league player and entrepreneur.
The event was opened by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Shirley Congdon, pictured above, who said: “This is the first of what will be many BREE workshops for staff, students and members of the community. We want to become the number one destination in Britain for business start-ups. When we launched this programme in January, we set out an ambitious plan to further contribute to the prosperity of Bradford through enterprise, winning backing from city and business leaders, as well as from business and social entrepreneurs. This is an example of how the University of Bradford is making a difference to people's lives and the wider community.”
About BREE
BREE was launched in January, thanks to a £1.25m donation (matched by the university) from alumnus Dr Murthy Renduchintala, pictured below with Professor Congdon, who attended the university from 1983-1991 and who went on to hold senior positions at Qualcomm and Intel.
He said at the time: “Great ideas and the people who have those ideas need a lot of help along the way. The whole idea of BREE is to provide access to the support required to get those great ideas to commercial viability.”
Participants of the July workshop will take part in a second workshop in September, when they will develop their ideas further before pitching them to real life investors.
BREE is open to staff, students and members of the public, who can bid for grants to develop their business ideas. Information about BREE is available via LinkedIn or by emailing: BREE@bradford.ac.uk
