Newcastle students take ideas to the lions

Students from across Newcastle University showed off their business acumen at the second N.U. Lions’ Den event.

The event is designed to encourage fledgling businesses and student start-up companies to exhibit their products and services to a room full of North East business experts.

The Newcastle University Business School event, in collaboration with the Benefactors’ Fund for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, the NU Marketing Society and the NU Alumni Association, saw engineering student, Ed Stephenson, crowned the winner of the £10k prize package.

Ed caught the lions’ attention with his business idea, MetiNet, an online communication tool designed to help with project management across international borders in the construction industry.

The Lions’ Den judging panel consisted of: Martin Stanley, Business School graduate and co-founder of Ground Six; Rob Earnshaw, founder of the National Youth Film Academy; Daniela Meyhoefer - and the team from brand consultancy company – Violet Bick; and Peter Nelson, serial entrepreneur and IT guru.

MetiNet were announced as the champions in a Dragons’ Den style final ceremony following a confident product pitch in front of the judging panel and audience members.

The event organising committee, made up of five Business School students, initially asked for online submissions from businesses, which included a video proposal, before whittling entries down to 22 teams. They were then invited to attend the final event to pitch their ideas in front of the lions.

Ellen Newsome, communications manager for the event, said: “We were so impressed by the calibre of entrants at this year’s competition and would encourage them all to strive to take their ideas forward. We would like to thank everyone that applied for giving up their time to take part.

“We are proud of the broad range of teams that applied. The event overall was lots of fun and we hope to see more events like this that showcase young entrepreneurship.

“Our end goal was to provide the opportunity for student business ideas to be promoted and gain recognition in the business world; thus creating contacts and building relationships with professionals. We believe we have achieved this by giving these businesses a platform to base their future experiences on, and some may have even gained valuable contacts.”

The afternoon saw companies offering a range of products and services; from hand cream products to fast food omelettes, and photo apps to biomass boilers.

The event, which was attended by students and run by students, was a display of imagination, creativity and ambition.

Director of Newcastle University Business School, Professor John Wilson, added: “Regardless of their university course, any student can have a good idea – it takes those with the drive and thirst for success to see that idea through to this stage.

“We hope to encourage any student to get involved in this type of event – the preparation it gives students for the real-world, is invaluable.

“Thank you to our innovative and hard-working Business School students for organising such a successful event.”