Students enter lions' den to showcase business potential

Brave Newcastle University students will enter the lions’ den to showcase their business potential in a new event.

The Newcastle University Business school are set to host their first annual N.U Lion’s Den which will see enterprising students put in the spotlight to promote their entrepreneurial skills.

Held in collaboration with the NU Marketing Society, the NU Alumni Association and the NU Entrepreneur Society the event will see students compete for cash prizes, with a £5,000 total in cash and prize awards.

Businesses competing for the cash will be in varying development stages from plans for potential business ventures to nascent start-up companies and businesses registered and trading by students.

At the trade show visitors will be provided with fake money which they can ‘invest’ in businesses they believe has the potential to grow.

The second section will see the NU Lions inviting the companies which secured the highest ’funding; from the public to present their business plans to them and a wider audience to compete for awards.

The ’panel of ‘lions’ will consist of energy management entrepreneur Phil Goodfellow, co-founder of Ground Six, Martin Stanley, CEO of Cumbrian Energy Assessors, Adele Broadhurst and entrepreneur and business angel investor, Robert Turnbull.

Business people, investors and entrepreneurs are expected to attend to the event to interact and network with the student businesses.

Lecturer in Enterprise and Innovation at Newcastle University, Panagiotis Piperopoulos, said: “The basic idea is lets get the investors engaged and showcase to the public that these students are doing these great things.

“Our aspiration is that other universities in the UK will see that self employment is a viable option in this difficult time.

“There is more than meets the eye with students, these people have great ideas.

“It’s the first time that something like this has been organised and the whole idea behind it is to bring forward and make the puvbic aware of the entrepreneurial activities that students are involved in.”

The N.U Lions’ Den, sponsored in part by Ground Six, will take place on the 24th April at Newcastle University Student’s Union.

This event is open to all and free to attend but prior registration is welcomed, there is a registration fee of £10 pounds for participating student businesses.