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OVCV give talk to Newcastle Uni business Students

When I was asked by the Business and Innovation Centre if I would speak at a lecture to business students at Newcastle Business School, I thought this would be a good chance to give these budding entrepreneurs a real taste of what the modern business world is like.

A very kind introduction was made by Louise Hardy from the B.I.C, and as I looked around the room it took me back to my final year of my M.A in Media at Sunderland University. At the time I thought yes, I want to set up my own business. Just get out there and do it! What could be so hard?

What I would have given back then to have someone like myself, only a few years out of university to come in and tell me what the world is really like! My first slide reads “forget the textbooks”. I have never actually read many books about business in general; I have went for the other approach; surrounding myself and the team with experienced mentors from various sectors; sales, finance and legal.

There are some great initiatives in the region to help with start ups in my sector (creative and digital), Digital City, Sunderland Software City and Newcastle Science City for example, in addition to the great support I have had from the B.I.C in my first 2 years trading.

50% of hands go up when I ask who wants to set up a business in the room. I imagine this is a much higher rate than would have been say, even 5 years ago, when post graduate unemployment was not so high and opportunities were in abundance.

It’s a sign of the times but also really positive to see that so many students want to simply “do it themselves” .Graduates read dismal statistics every day about unemployment, (something I felt so passionate about, I created my business, Online Video CV) . It’s refreshing to see that amid the doom and gloom, graduates are still thinking positively about their futures and want to go on to be potential world beaters.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Hudson .