Young Enterprise Programme

Some of the students carrying out an activity as part of the recent launchSome of the students carrying out an activity as part of the recent launchThe B-enterprising team, part of the University’s Careers and Employability Service, are very excited to be offering students the chance to participate in the Young Enterprise Programme (YE) this year - an opportunity to experience real-life creation and running of a business and to develop all the skills and expertise that are associated with it. Bangor University will be setting up 4 new businesses that students can be involved in shaping. Bangor is the first university in Wales to participate this year and will be competing against universities across the UK.

Sixty-four students from a wide range of academic schools took part in the launch recently.  Callum Jones of YE kicked off the proceedings with an introduction to the programme.  Further inspiration was provided by Dr James Intriligator, Director of Commercialisation at the School of Psychology and Rob Popsys, professional coach and mentor from Willcando.  Chris Walker, an experienced facilitator and business mentor from People Systems International, helped students to think about the skills and traits needed to work effectively in teams. The students took part in a ‘self-organizing extravaganza’ whereby they had the opportunity to pitch a business idea to the room to attract others to the idea. They now have an ongoing opportunity online to vote for the idea they wish to develop and form teams that over the coming year will develop a real business idea.  Siwan Mitchelmore, Lecturer in Business & Management will be part of the mentoring support offered to the team.

The programme, which gives access to business consultants, normally costs £1,500 per team but is free at Bangor through the University’s links with Santander who support the scheme.  The teams will compete against each other before going on to the UK finals in London and ultimately the European finals if successful.

Individual students who complete the programme can earn 50 experience points (XP) towards the Bangor Employability Award (BEA) for their participation. John Jackson, BEA Manager, said ‘the Young Enterprise  programme is a fantastic addition to the portfolio of opportunities eligible for XP in the BEA scheme. Establishing and running a business obviously benefits your employability, and an important thing to remember is that intrepreneurial skills can be enhanced through opportunities like this too; it is not necessary for you to work for yourself in order to utilise the skills acquired in these areas, and having experienced whether you'd like to or not is really beneficial’

The Young Enterprise event is organised by the B-Enterprising project from the Careers and Employability Service.

Publication date: 13 November 2012