Theo Paphitis and other ‘Guest Speakers’ talk to 1,400 Students at SAVILES Hall in Leeds about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur…Hear what they had to say;
When self-made millionaire and Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis stepped onto the stage at SAVILES Hall, Leeds, it is as a dragon of an altogether friendlier temperament.
Gone is the steely gaze that makes contestants on the show shake in their shoes and the rapier cut and thrust that ruthlessly exposes flaws in a business proposal.
Instead, he beams benevolently on the 1,400+ audience as he promotes the extraordinary BA Honours degree in Enterprise Development at Huddersfield University, nicknamed the ‘Pracademic’. Theo has become a huge fan of the revolutionary new course and shares with the audience real life experiences from Wedge Wellys and Magic Whiteboard.
Claire Young and Professor John Thompson also give their account of what you are likely to face on the journey to become a truly successful entrepreneur.
Claire Young is an Apprentice Finalist, Motivational Speaker, Coach and Social Enterprise Champion…
You may know Claire from the TV show, The Apprentice, where Claire reached the final in 2008. Since then she have been actively working on several projects which are designed to empower and enable young people in enterprise.
Her role she says boldly “Is firstly, as a successful businesswoman” and she has two main areas of interest…School Speakers – A business providing quality motivational speakers (including Claire herself), for schools, colleges and universities.
Additionally, Claire has a site called ‘Girls Out Loud’. The aim of this project is to inspire young girls, between the ages of 13 and 18 to raise their work, life goals and aspirations.
“Dragons’ Den could either have made or broken us,” said Sarah Longthorn . “We see so many businesses going on Dragons’ Den and they fail under the pressure so we knew that could be a massive risk to our business.
“But at the end of the day, we knew we had a great business and hopefully the Dragons would recognise that and they did so it turned out well.”
Now in its 3rd year of trading, WedgeWelly, which employs just 3 staff is constantly innovating through the creative eye of Laura Booth who designs new products to stay ahead of the competition…This year they’ve launched its new Splash Wellies brand in addition to three new products under the WedgeWelly brand along with a young girls’ range of WedgeWelly boots – Misfits – after signing an exclusive deal with retail giant John Lewis.
“There’s lots going on for WedgeWelly,” she added. “We’ve got five countries we’re looking to export to in the next 12 months and we’re also looking to launch a clothing range of festival dresses for ladies so that will complement the boots very well.”
Magic Whiteboard, is one of the Den’s overnight success stories. As we all know countless would business owners have seen their ideas mocked, scorned and teased whilst other ‘promising successful’ pitches have fallen into insignificance, the Westwood’s turned £100,000 of Dragon investment into a 50% profit margin in under 2 years.
Their simple business idea allows you to create a portable whiteboard from a roll, anywhere, in seconds (forget flipcharts). The sheets of statically charged polypropylene film stick to any hard, flat surface without the need for tape or glue, ready to be written on then easily wiped clean.
Neil explains “Having worked for NHS as a trainer I grew tired of dragging whiteboards up and down the stairs all day…it was driving me mad,” And then along came a solution the Magic Whiteboard which as he says. “There was nothing like it in the market and so I was just addressing a problem I had.”
Neil researched a supplier which he found in Europe of all places and using the family savings to buy the rolls the journey began.
Professor John Thompson is the founder of the BA honours degree in Enterprise Development and talks to 1,400 students about researching a business idea, testing the business model and then starting their own business whilst of course studying for this degree.
The BA (Hons) Enterprise Development degree from The University of Huddersfield provides an exciting opportunity for students who have a clear interest in business start-up and self employment and who want to develop their ability to practice and to ‘do’ as well as to learn about entrepreneurship.
Networking and the development of social capital are crucial aspects of this degree. Students are exposed to a ‘studio culture’ and the opportunity to develop business ideas and work on a number of real projects before they start their own business. The course aims to enable people to have a clear vision of why a particular business idea is different and will succeed in its target market.
Course members learn about relevant disciplines, practice their learning to develop their skills and then apply their knowledge and skills to real situations. Our intention is that successful graduates will leave the programme with both a degree and a viable business.
