I like to think of myself as a bit of an entrepreneur and I recently had one of those amazing middle of the night ideas. Following the development of this idea I decided to enter a business competition for students, created by Westfocus in association with a new government funded campaign to encourage young entrepreneur's called 'Make It Happen'. The competition, namely, Bright Ideas encouraged students from nine different universitites to submit a basic business plan which would subsequently be judged by a panel of business savvy's and successful entrepreneurs. You can imagine my excitement when my idea was shortlisted! On the 23rd of February I excitedly travelled to the University of Westminster, Regent Street campus, to await the announcement of the seven ideas that had won. If you were one of the lucky seven winners you were required to make a pitch. Having a natural affiliation to public speaking combined with confidence in my business idea, I revelled in the writing and rehearsing of my pitch (writing and rehearsing only began on the actual day of the competition final as I didn't want to jinx the possibility of winning, I wasn't over confident you see).
The Prize giving event began at 5pm, well estimated time, it actually began at 5.10 after the sound man had done a significant amount of "Test 1,2,3" not appreciated by nervous students within grips of a £1000 win! The winners were read out and as it got down to two left, I had that common feeling of one's stomach turning in anticipation. UnfortunatelyI wasn't one of the winners. I lost out to some worthwhile inventions (an instrument which would revolutionise IV care for children) and some ideas that utterly perplexed me. Shoes made out of banana skins were just one of these perplexing wins. Designed to sell to a predominant student market, the clogs/bowling shoes, yes, they were a mix between the two and needless to say not so pleasing on the eye, surely were not going to make any profit for the founder/communities he was aiming to help despite his eco-friendly outlook and best intentions. The portable recycling machine which could only create a bowl and a frisbee was another idea which failed to deliver an impressive eco and economic outlook.
My thoughts immediately turned to the need for a viable business, social enterprise idea or invention that perhaps has both an ethical/eco aspect as well as one that would either initate funds for a charity/social enterprise or the founder of the business- surely this is what entrepreneurship is all about.
