What did we do when lockdown meant we couldn’t get 35 entrepreneurs together in a room for our BSEEN startup bootcamp? We did what the rest of the country has been doing and moved it online.
Each year, the Aston Enterprise team puts out an open call to all Aston Students – what’s your big idea?
We invite any student with a business idea to enter the competition, which is sponsored by Santander Universities, to be in with a chance of being crowned the winner (which comes with a £1000 prize fund and a fast tracked place onto our BSEEN start-up programme).
Aston Enterprise launches first 'Startup Safari' 
Learning about how start-ups work is one thing, but there’s nothing quite like getting out and about to really get an insight into what’s happening just on our doorstep in one of the UK’s entrepreneurial hotspots, Birmingham.
Find out more here.
NACUE Student Enterprise Conference 
In February, Aston Enterprise sponsored a group of Aston Students to attend the NACUE Student Enterprise Conference in London.
Read more.
Announcing...Aston Enterprise Bursaries 2020
We are excited to announce the launch of the Aston Enterprise Bursaries scheme, made possible through our partnership with Santander Universities.
Eligible enterprising Aston students and recent graduates are invited to put themselves forward for one of the Enterprise Bursaries on offer (up to £2,000 each), and use this funding to take their businesses to the next level.
Find out more - 1st May Deadline to Apply.
73 students graduate from Apollo Startup Programme 2018/19 On March 20th, we held a Graduation event for all of the participants of the Aston Apollo programme. A six week programme held in the Autumn and Spring terms, Apollo was created to help Aston students develop those business ideas you have in the back of your head and make the first steps towards making them a reality.
Find out more here.
5 Aston students battle it out in the Aston Enterprise Competition Final Each year, we hold the Aston Enterprise Pitching Competition - all Aston students are able to apply with their business idea, receive pitching training and then battle it out at the final for cash prizes & further support to develop their ideas. This year we saw some fantastic pitches, so the competition was tougher than ever - congratulations to Nicola Beckley (Final Year, Maths & Business), whose idea to create a range of inclusive greetings cards won the top prize, sponsored by Santander Universities.
Find out more.
BSEEN showcases Student & Graduate Entrepreneurs in Birmingham BSEEN - Aston's student and graduate startup support scheme - held a celebration event in March at Millennium Point, where over 50 young entrepreneurs had the opportunity to exhibit and promote their businesses. As well as celebrating their successes, the project had a chance to reflect on the impact its had over the past 3 years - and with the exciting announcement that it will be continuing for another 3 years, what else is to come. Find out more.
Aston University recently renewed its partnership with Santander Universities for a further 3 years, helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds get in to Higher Education. On top of that, Aston Enterprise has secured £50,000 to help support aspiring student entrepreneurs, kicking off with last weekend's innovation event, the Birmingham Youth Challenge. Read here for more.
Not sure whether you should come to our upcoming innovation challenge weekend, all about young people in Birmingham? Click here to find out the 5 very good reasons you should consider coming along...
A West Midlands based Indian food firm called Green Sisters, co-founded by an Aston Business School alumna Reena Salhan supported by BSEEN is Promoting Inclusion with Authentic Free-From Food. Green Sisters launched a crowdfunding project to raise £2,000 to reach a wider audience by increasing production of their popular Vegan, Free From Samosas **NEW** Spice Pots & Chutneys. Also sharing their authentic Indian know-how with simple, easy to follow recipes & vlogs that anyone can re-create a delish vegan & allergen friendly meal!
The annual Aston University enterprise competition was held on Thursday 8th March. The competition culminated in a dragon’s den style final in which the winner, final year Business and Management student, Sonal Modi, captivated the judges with her business idea and was awarded the first place prize of £500 seed funding from Santander Universities. Sonal is preparing to launch her business, IndiMex Streetfood Company, a street food business which fuses the flavours of Indian and Mexican cuisine, through the BSEEN programme.
The Student Enterprise Conference 2018 was hosted at Aston University on the 17th and 18th February for a stirring weekend of connecting and collaborating with like-minded individuals. For future entrepreneurs this was the prime opportunity to meet similar people and to utilise the knowledge given from the amazing and inspirational speeches. NACUE, Aston University and the New Beacon Group welcomed representatives, each showcasing their passion to encourage student-led initiatives and student entrepreneurs throughout the UK and worldwide
The fourth annual Social Storm was held on 17-18 November for 160 students from 11 universities across Europe. Students in multinational teams collaborated for 24 hours to design, research and pitch solutions to two Sustainable Development Goals; combating climate change and building sustainable cities.
Aston University had 30 students take part and spent 24 hours working in the state of the art Universities Centre at Innovation Birmingham Campus.This year’s winning team designed a crypto currency platform, to enable people to exchange low level support and services with their neighbours, to create inclusive local communities.
The BSEEN Exhibition and Networking event took place at iCentrum, Innovation Birmingham Campus on Thursday 9th November. There were over 200 attendees from local businesses, dignitaries from partner universities, academic staff, as well as BSEEN entrepreneurs and alumni. The aim of the event was to showcase the wide range of new business start-ups currently on the BSEEN programme. The event was an opportunity for the business community in Birmingham to meet the entrepreneurs.
Two graduates have been awarded £500 each after being selected to represent Aston University in the national Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards. To enter the competition applicants had to submit a business model canvas and a two minute video pitch. First class BSc (Hons) International Business & Economics graduate Reena Salhan, set up Green Sisters with her sister Geeta with support from the BSEEN (Birmingham Skills for Enterprise and Employability Network) programme last September. She was selected to represent Aston University in the Pre-revenue category
The National Apprentice Challenge took place for the fifth year at Aston University this month. It was an intense weekend for the students and Newcastle University were crowned the winner. They received £1,000 prize and six months mentorship from the co-founders Simona Popa and Sep Eslahi, serial entrepreneurs and mentors of the Queen Young Leaders Programme.
The annual Aston University Enterprise Competition was held on Thursday 16 March. The competition culminated in a dragon’s den style final in which the winner, Life and Health Science student, Rashida Makda, impressed the judges with her optical fixation sticks for children and was awarded the first prize of £500 from EY. She was also crowned the audience favourite using the Vox Vote app and received two free tickets to Enterprise Nation’s ‘Meet the Journalist’ event taking place at Aston University on the 18th July.
UniHack, an organisation that runs hackathons on university campuses up and down the country, came to Aston University’s Great Hall from the 10-12th February. Thirty six students from degree courses spanning maths, computer science, psychology, business and the MBA took part in the 48-hour challenge to look for new ways to use the Internet of Things (IOT), both in its application and in using the data it collects. Cross disciplinary teams created products, services and apps that took advantage of this increasingly scalable technology.
Last year BSEEN won the National Enterprise Educator ‘HE Team Enterprise Award’ and decided to use some of the prize money to learn about student entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. Carolyn Keenan, Project Manager and Sandra Benbow, Enterprise Consultant met with Dr. Bram Kuijken, Assistant Professor, Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Amsterdam to learn about the business start-up module he runs. In the evening they attended an Enabling Youth Entrepreneurship across Europe event at Team Academy, Amsterdam’s office in the retro atmosphere of the B Amsterdam building, a former IBM office. The event was organised by Tata in partnership with the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE).
Social Storm organised an international competition on 11-12 November for 250 students from 19 universities across Europe, Africa and India. Using technology available on the internet, students in multinational teams worked for 24 hours to tackle sustainable housing and food security, with sustainable solution ideas. Aston University had 30 students take part and spent 24 hours working in the new state of the art Universities Centre at Innovation Birmingham Campus.
The honour recognises Aston for delivering exceptional enterprise and entrepreneurial education.
The Birmingham Skills for Enterprise and Employability Network (BSEEN) programme has won a prestigious award at the 2016 National Enterprise Educator Awards at the gala dinner for the IEEC conference in Liverpool Cathedral.
The annual Aston University Enterprise Competition was held on Thursday 3 March. The competition culminated in a dragon’s den style final in which the winner, final year Business and Management student, Olivia Keogh impressed the judges with her Pop Up Card Company and was awarded the first prize of £500 from EY, and a market research package from Marketest.
An Aston University student and graduate have been awarded £1000 each after being selected by the University to enter the national Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards.
The competition asked Aston University students and recent graduates to submit their business plans for judging.