Past Events Held by Solent Sparks
Bonita Norris
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Bonita Norris gave an inspirational talk to the members of the Solent Sparks Society. Bonita was able to secure funding and training with virtually no ‘high altitude’ climbing experience.
Bonita was able to explain how being refused funding from companies spurred her on to find the funding in a tight time frame with the limits of becoming physically fit to enable her to complete her dream.
Bonita was able to share her message of being strong and being persistent in finding funding. She was able to emphasise the entrepreneurial ability of being able to train to do something she hadn’t done before, as well as using different initiatives to secure different funding.
Solent students impress judges with ‘green’ initiatives
18 – 19 November 2010
Seventeen students represented Solent University at the annual Dynamo Enterprise Boot Camp. In its sixth year, the two-day competition is a collaboration between the Universities of Winchester, Bournemouth, Southampton Solent, Portsmouth and Southampton. Ninety students from the five Universities took part in the event, hosted at Marwell Hotel, with Solent students represented in the winning and runner-up teams.
The competition challenged students to turn a common environmental problem into a lucrative business idea in less than 24 hours. In total, 15 teams pitched their business idea to 30 business leaders, who volunteered their time to work with the students.
Jamie Miller, a Southampton Solent student on the winning team took home a share of the £1,800 prize money. His recommendation to other students considering attending an enterprise competition: “Just do it! It’s a great experience and will help with your university course and future plans.”
The Apprentices’ Claire Young inspires graduate start-ups
Friday 19 November 2010
Claire Young sent out a message of ‘hard work and a can do attitude’ to students from Solent, Itchen College and Basingstoke College. Claire shot to fame after becoming a finalist in the fourth series of The Apprentice. She now spends her time running several businesses, managing a successful media career and inspiring young people across the country to start their own business.
Claire spent the day at Solent University meeting on a one-to-one basis with budding entrepreneurs to provide advice on starting their business. She was also the guest judge for Solent’s own enterprise competition ‘Ice-cream wars’ developed by Principle Lecturer Lesley Hyder.
Claire’s main message: "When you’re at University and you’ve got lots of ideas bouncing around, it can be daunting to know where to start. Do your research, know who your competitors are and if you have a robust business idea, get help from anybody you can and just go for it.”
Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens on playing the game
Wednesday 17 November 2010
If you’re into gaming and think the industry is all about the latest computer technology and graphics, think again. CEO of Codemasters Rod Cousens, who is commonly titled one of the founding fathers of today’s video gaming industry, inspired 120 students on creating business success in the gaming world.
In the UK alone, creative industries represent 6-8% of the UK economy, with the entertainment industry representing a majority of this. Therefore the growth of this industry will undoubtedly become a significant force in the future of the UK’s economy.
Rod’s inspirational story left students buzzing to know more about how to crack into a lucrative, yet competitive industry.
Social Enterprise day at Solent
Thursday 18 November 2010
When asking students what they think is meant by ‘social enterprise’, many will respond with answers relating to running a business based on Facebook and Twitter. Yet this growing sector of the UK, commonly mistaken for the online networking industry, is all about creating profitable businesses that fund social needs.
Much like Jamie Oliver’s 15 restaurants that are run by young people to help give them aspirations in life, social enterprises offer financially viable methods to tackle real social needs... without relying on charity donations.
The highlighted factor was looking at the social enterprise model as a way of creating real business opportunities for the benefit of society.
Louise Drake, the Eco-Ernie co-ordinator, worked with Solent students on providing them with an insight into the benefits of running a social enterprise. This has been based on the back of the award-winning project of Eco-Ernie, the recycling milk float, which was set up as an enterprise to tackle student recycling in Southampton.
Start young by Sabirul Islam
Thursday 18 November 2010
At the age of just 19, Sabirul Islam has already achieved great milestones in enterprise. Sabirul shared his story with University students as part of the Dynamo Enterprise Boot Camp competition.
In a rare opportunity, Sabirul was taken on board as a trainee in leading stock broker Merryl Lynch at the age of 16. Knowing that employment wasn’t for him, Sabirul left the programme to become a best-selling author of the teen-spirational book ‘The World at Your Feet’. He has recently been named the ‘JCI Outstanding Young Person of the World 2010’ and is on his way to inspire 2 million young people globally to start a business.
Sabirul’s main message to young people: “To achieve success in life, you have to take it one step at a time. Think big, start small.”