Results
A meeting of young business minds - Local students attend £10,000 E-Factor Grand Finale
15 May 2008
A former University of East London (UEL) student has won £10,000 to start up her own company after pitching her business idea at the E-Factor Grand Finale on Wednesday 14th May at the Knowledge Dock Business Centre (the University of East London’s Enterprise Development Service).The deserved winner was Rachel Cosford who was voted the best by a panel of judges and an audience of local businesses and established entrepreneurs. Her idea was to develop an interactive, online fashion brand named SURFACE. The target audience would be female fashion innovators aged 15 – 23, who would become part of an online community responsible for choosing which clothing designs should be produced. Rachel said:-
“I’ve always wanted to start my own business, so I’m delighted I’ve won! The money will help me immensely and allow me to develop the website. The Workshops and Masterclasses I attended really pushed me to think more in-depth about my business plan and question what I was doing, so I’ve gained a lot of insight which will stand me in good stead for the future.”
The event was the conclusion to a four month search for the most enterprising students from the University of East London. Over 300 students entered and a series of workshops ranging from ‘how to develop a business idea’ to ‘how to think entrepreneurially’ were held to help develop their business ideas.
The competition culminated in five finalists being selected to present their business plans at the E-Factor Grand Finale. They were given Business Masterclasses and assigned an individual Mentor, before their appearance at the special event.
They had 2 minutes to pitch their business idea to a panel of expert judges – Rob Moss (Director of Knowledge Dock), Ed Baldwin (Managing Director, Redarch Associates Ltd), Abisol Makanju (Development Manager for Enterprise, London Development Agency) and Vanessa Lavery (Barclays). After they presented their business plan to the audience, the judges questioned the students on the unique selling points of their business proposition and how they would implement their strategy.
The second prize winner was Harry Loo, who received £1000 for his ‘PC Arcade’ business concept. He explained to the audience why rows of high performance computers, offering a superior gaming experience, would appeal to gamers, who would also benefit from the affordable price and the sociable environment.
In third place was Faduma Omah for idea ‘Phatima’, a clothing brand aimed at Muslim women who want stylish trendy clothing that is at the same time modest.
The other finalists were Cara Magoolagan for ‘Proud Advertising’ and Monica Clemo and Zoe Holloway for Hunger Arts. Proud advertising was Cara’s suggestion for an advertising company which specialises in creating and planning advertising and marketing campaigns for the lesbian audience, and Hunger Arts was pitched as an events company to enable artistsand musiciansa place to showcase and sell their work. Monica Clemo said:
"E-Factor has given us both an opportunity to gain skills in entrepreneurship, which we would have otherwise have missed out on".
E-Factor judge Rob Moss (Director of Knowledge Dock) was thrilled to see such fine examples of student engagement in entrepreneurship. The E-Factor event is one of many initiatives by Knowledge Dock as part of the Business Centre’s role to be a leading university for student entrepreneurship. Rob said:-
“It’s very encouraging to have so many students at UEL show an interest in developing their business ideas and becoming an entrepreneur. They clearly have the creative mind and the motivation to drive forward their projects, so we're delighted to provide a service to help grow their business skills.”
