Masood Entrepreneurship Centre

A new era for Masood Entrepreneurship Centre Alliance Manchester Business School has announced the appointment of the new Director who will lead the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre’s mission to drive and nurture the next generation of outstanding innovators at The University of Manchester. Aurore Hochard joins the Centre from London’s Bayes Business School, after nine years as Head of Entrepreneurship Programmes. Aurore Hochard describes her passion for fostering a culture of entrepreneurship: “I am incredibly inspired by the opportunity to bring my lived experience as an entrepreneur and my drive to imbed entrepreneurial thinking into education at the highest level in Manchester. It is this entrepreneurial mindset that has the power to not only see things differently, but to implement positive change and innovation for the business community and society as a whole.”   Aurore Hochard will join the team on 1 October 2024 and share her vision and strategy for 2025 and beyond.    Read more: https://lnkd.in/ewrYAFWy Luke Georghiou Fiona Devine Ken McPhail

The Masood Entrepreneurship Centre is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Eli & Britt Harari Graphene Enterprise Award. This award is designed to support students, postdoctoral researchers, recent graduates and encourage new student cohorts to engage with MEC in launching new businesses that involve graphene or other 2D materials. It’s all about sparking innovation and making a real impact in the commercial world, turning groundbreaking research into game-changing solutions for the future. The applications were judged based on how solid their plans were for creating a new business related to graphene or 2D materials. The top prize of £50,000 went to Kun Huang of Solar Ethos. Kun has a Master’s degree in Corrosion Control Engineering and a PhD in Material Physics. The second prize of £20,000 went to Hafiza Hifza Nawaz of Fabstics, who also has a PhD in Materials. Big shoutout to the other finalists too—Mohammadhossein (Mas) Saberian of EcoTarTech and Ozan Can ZEHNI of Dorlion SHM. All finalists received support throughout the competition, which included: pitching workshops, help with applications by Scott Dean (CEO of Graphene Trace), and IP advice from University of Manchester Innovation Factory. Our top-tier judges included Prof. Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Manchester; Lynn Sheppard, Masood Entrepreneurship Centre Director; Jessica McCreadie, Investment Director at Northern Gritstone; James Baker CEng FIET FRSA, CEO Graphene @Manchester at The University of Manchester; and Gareth Jones, Project Manager - Electronics at the University of Manchester Innovation Factory. We heard some inspiring speeches from high-profile individuals such as Lynn Sheppard, Prof. James Baker, Dr Vivek Koncherry, Liam Johnson, and Prof. Luke Georghiou. We were also joined via Zoom from California by Dr. Eli Harari, founder of SanDisk. He encouraged attendees to "Think Big!". Eli & Britt Harari 2021 award winner, Dr. Vivek Koncherry, the CEO of Graphene Innovations Manchester, is making significant strides in connecting graphene technology with global business opportunities. With a strong background as an alumnus and researcher from The University of Manchester, Vivek exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation. “For all the winners and nominees, your journey does not stop here, it goes on” - Lynn Sheppard “Graphene can make a big difference in addressing the climate change challenges” - Prof. James Baker “We need people like you to aspire in making the world better” - Dr. Eli Harari “The award allowed me to turn this idea to something tangible” - Liam Johnson. “It's our duty to build an ecosystem to support the development of graphene” - Prof. Luke Georghiou Huge congrats to all participants! We can’t wait to see the awesome impact of their innovative work in the commercial world. Check our website for full article: https://bit.ly/4bBniEa

As part of The University of Manchester bicentenary celebrations, the Alliance Manchester Business School organised a 3-day Festival of Business and we had the privilege to partner with the central AMBS team for Day 2 – The Future Leaders Day. We were thrilled to host enthusiastic students from schools and colleges across Greater Manchester. The day kicked off with an empowering keynote session from Georgia-Rae Jasmin, setting an inspiring tone for the rest of the event. On 26 June, our team at the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre then led an engaging Ideas Generation workshop (Jess Lewis-Tatton, Nainika Sahye). We guided students through the essentials of what makes a good idea, opportunity spotting, personal branding, market analysis, and competitor analysis. To wrap up the session, we delved into the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), challenging students to select one and develop a business idea around it. The creativity and innovation displayed in the three pitches we heard were truly impressive. A huge thank you to everyone who participated and made this day a success. Here's to fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators! 🌟 👉 Here are 8 reasons why it's great to learn entrepreneurship at a young age: Although there is no age for it, learning entrepreneurship early on can be a game-changer for one's future. Here’s why: 1️⃣ Sharpening Critical Skills Thinking like an entrepreneur enhances critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, useful in both business and everyday life 🌱 2️⃣ Spotting Opportunities Entrepreneurship helps you spot market gaps and create innovative solutions, like having a superpower to see potential 🦸♀️ 3️⃣ Boosting Confidence and Independence Starting a project or business boosts confidence and self-reliance, inspiring you to take risks and pursue your dreams ☝️ 4️⃣ Learning Financial Smarts Entrepreneurship teaches money management, budgeting, and investing, essential for any career path 📖 5️⃣ Building Resilience and Adaptability Navigating entrepreneurial challenges builds resilience and adaptability, crucial for success in any area of life 🧗 6️⃣ Encouraging Creativity and Innovation Entrepreneurship channels curiosity and imagination into productive innovation, leading to progress 🔮 7️⃣ Making an Impact Early entrepreneurship enables you to impact the economy and society, bringing fresh ideas and solutions 💡 8️⃣ Embracing Lifelong Learning Entrepreneurs continually learn and grow, fostering curiosity and continuous development 📝 In short, early entrepreneurship equips you with valuable skills for life, preparing you to contribute meaningfully to society 🐝 📸 Laurent Swyngedauw #FestivalOfBusiness #UoM200 #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #FutureLeaders #MasoodEntrepreneurshipCentre #UNSDGs

What an incredible celebration at our Festival of Business! As part of The University of Manchester's 200th anniversary, we hosted a Festival of Business last week. This three-day event was a fantastic opportunity for learning, discussion, and inspiration from the best of AMBS and the global business community. 📅 Day 1: Gaining the Edge Our seminar event for third sector and not-for-profit organisations was a huge success. We explored ESG, Productivity and Digital Marketing looking at ways to gain a competitive edge and drive impactful change with Ismail Erturk, Bart van Ark, Dawn Holmes, Claire-Marie Boggiano. 📅 Day 2: Future Leaders We welcomed enthusiastic school and college pupils from across Greater Manchester. Hosted by the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre, the day was filled with entrepreneurship and innovation workshops and an inspirational talk from guest speaker Georgia-Rae Jasmin. 📅 Day 3: Business 2050 We concluded with a forward-looking event focusing on the future of business, transformation, and innovation. The discussions on the ever-changing business landscape were enlightening and thought-provoking. A massive thank you to our incredible speakers and panel members: william periam, Edwin Booth CBE DL, Lou Cordwell OBE, Matt Cobbold, Sacha Jacobs, Judy Zolkiewski, Lisa Shaftesley, Michelle Carter, Patrick Vizzone, Mohammad Khalil El Hajj, PhD, Chris M. Smith, Masood Entrepreneurship Centre. Your insights and expertise made this event unforgettable. Here's to the next 200 years of innovation and excellence here in Manchester! #AMBSFestivalOfBusiness

Congratulations to Sid Sethi and the Specscart. team for this incredible achievement! Your hard work, dedication, and innovative spirit are truly inspiring. Keep pushing the boundaries and setting new standards in the industry. Here's to many more successes and milestones ahead! 🙌 ⛰️

We were thrilled to participate in Future Focus Week 2024, an initiative by The University of Manchester Careers team. This exceptional event was designed to primarily help final year students and recent graduates transition smoothly from university to their future careers. 👉 The week-long program was a vibrant mix of online and on-campus activities, tailored to meet the diverse needs of the participants. This included colleagues delivering 14 expert workshops and sessions, supporting 550+ students and graduates across the week. Full list here 🔗 https://ow.ly/XG9l50Sne5W 🎙️As part of our participation, we conducted a workshop led by Jess Lewis-Tatton, titled 'Elevating Yourself with Entrepreneurship Skills for Your Career and Projects'. This session aimed to explore how entrepreneurial skills can enhance and transform careers. Whether participants were planning to start a small business or apply an entrepreneurial mindset to their current projects, the session offered practical strategies and lessons from our speaker to turn ideas into action and excel in their fields. The one-hour talk covered practical skills like LinkedIn profile building, identifying opportunities, and effective self-marketing. 📝 Key Takeaways include: - Being entrepreneurial does not just mean starting a business; we can be entrepreneurial within a company and this is called intrapreneurship. - The skills developed while being entrepreneurial makes one more employable. - What is my 'Personal Brand'? It is my value! - Personal branding is the practice of identifying one's characteristics and skills set and defining a brand around oneself. - How to use a mind map to uncover one's personal brand and create a verbal business card that will adapt to different job descriptions. - Having digital presence on social media platforms like LinkedIn helps to build one's personal brand and if you are struggling, find your digital twin: someone who has similar experiences to you or someone who you would like to emulate. - Ideas generation and opportunity spotting: developing an understanding of market interests to generate new ideas and innovate. Where there is a problem - there can be profit! - Competitor Analysis: Being aware of your competitors is essential as it helps validate your idea. - Beginning your career or startup is a marathon not a sprint! - Failure is a lesson and growing opportunity - not the end of the world! 🚀 We encourage everyone to stay tuned for more updates regarding our scheduled activities. We are eager to connect, share our industry insights, and contribute to shaping entrepreneurs of tomorrow. 💡Our participation in the Future Focus Week was a clear reflection of our commitment to fostering the growth and development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Manchester. We’d like to extend a special thanks to Jenny Sloan and everyone at the UoM Careers team for inviting us to this programme.

Today marks the final stage of the Researcher to Innovator #R2I programme. Good luck to all our The University of Manchester early career researchers #ECRs as they pitch in the Options Roundabout. #EntrepreneurialTraining #ResearcherDevelopment #Ideas #Impact Laura Etchells Aline Miller University of Manchester Innovation Factory Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange – The University of Manchester

Congratulations to Jessica and Tidy Think for their success in this year’s UK StartUp Awards! Jessica Moss studied the PGCE Primary course at The University of Manchester back in 2020. After teaching for 3 years, she spotted an opportunity to improve the current market with teacher planners. This prompted her to start Tidy Think. The company has now created a 105 different product types for teachers, teaching assistants and student teachers. Tidy Think have been chosen as the 2024 Winner for ‘Consumer Products Startup of the Year’ at the UK StartUp Awards. Check out their full range of Tidy Think planners at www.tidythink.co.uk 📢 UoM students! Type in the comments 'discount code' (valid until November 2024) and we will dm you a promo code to get £6 off your purchase @tidythinkuk 🏆 What are the UK StartUp Awards? From the founders of The Great British Entrepreneur Awards and the Fast Growth 50 Index, comes an award series championing and celebrating the best and brightest start-ups from ten nations and regions across the United Kingdom. The UK StartUp Awards offer a chance for businesses to gain recognition and exposure, build brand visibility, make industry contacts, and network with potential investors, all while celebrating the incredible achievements of start-ups in the early years of their business journey. Find out more about the awards here: https://lnkd.in/eu7iu4Y7

Only a few days left until the exclusive series of business events with top industry leaders here in Manchester, co-organised by our UoM alumnus Kristina Radeva in collaboration with Caleb Parker from Brave Corporation Ltd. and SeedLegals. What's even better? The University of Manchester students will receive the ticket for only £5!! All you have to do is use the discount code - Student5 The first guest speaker for this series is Dominic McGregor, founding partner at Fearless Adventures, known for taking Social Chain public at a £300m valuation. Dom will share insights on building and scaling successful businesses, and how sobriety saved his life and made his achievements possible. #entrepreneurship #mec #ambs #startup #eventseries #enterprise #learning #businessevent

The last two of this 5 event series are coming up in June. These 1 hour online sessions are an opportunity to learn more about trading, profits, bookkeeping, cash flow and securing further funding. 🗓 Session 4 - Thursday 6th June- Funding your business for growth This session will focus on funding opportunities covering, but not limited to, the following aspects: - Funding opportunities and process - Grants - Loans - Equity investment 🗓 Session 5 - Thursday 13th June- Monitoring your finances and Company Valuation This session will focus on but not limited to, the following aspects: - Keeping up to date with the business' financial position efficiently - Bookkeeping/accounts-what it is and why it's needed - Accounting systems for small businesses - Company valuation (for when pitching to potential investors) - What early stage investors are looking for - Understanding forecasted future earnings and the impact of discounted cash flow Whether you are already a start-up entrepreneur, studying at the Alliance Manchester Business School or interested in starting your own business in the future these sessions are for you 🐝 For more 👉https://lnkd.in/e9x8iReY