Rollits join business leaders to inspire Hull College students
Tom Morrison, Commercial & IP Partner at Rollitsjoined Derek Wills, Vice Principal of Higher Education at HullCollege, Jim Harris, Centre Manager at St Stephens Shopping Centreand Jae Saleh, MD at Okidoke Media visited Hull College to mentorstudents in an Ideas Mash Up competition.
They attended the Ideas Mash Up event, launched by theCollege's Enterprise Gateway and supported by Wildfire and theYouth Enterprise Services, and spoke to budding business brainsabout their ideas.
The students were given the task of developing a new productfrom two existing products of their choice. They then had toidentify a target market, name and price the product and decide ona marketing strategy.
The session was open to all students at the College and over40 took part in the hope of winning a brand new Samsung R540Notebook worth over £350 and kindly donated by StoneGroup.
In the end Alicia Harrison, 16, a Level 2 Business andAdministration student, won with her innovative product of aperfume dispensing charm bracelet. The idea is that each charm onthe bracelet could be filled with a different type of perfume sothat the wearer could top up their perfume with ease throughout theday.
Alicia comments,
"I love different perfumes and jewellery so that this seemedlike an obvious product to develop. I thought that women wouldreally like a bracelet with an additional function. I am so excitedand surprised to have won! The competition has been great and hasstarted me thinking on business ideas."
Net 315 Enterprise Manager, Alastair Brooks was impressedwith all the product ideas,
"The Ideas Mash Up organised by the Hull College EnterpriseGateway was a fantastic event to mark the College support of GlobalEntrepreneurship Week 2011. The guest judges and I were blown awayby the array of original ideas for products that were submitted.This is such a clear signal to the depth of talent and creativitythat we as employers have access to on our own door step. It is soimportant to be able to provide an environment which encouragesinnovation and freedom to think creatively as part of the learningexperience and this is something that as an organisation we striveto deliver."
Tom Morrison of Rollits added
"The breadth of innovative solutions that the students cameup with in less than an hour was both inspiring and refreshing, andthe level of enthusiasm amongst the students pays testament to theCollege`s ability to engage directly with budding entrepreneurs. Itwas Alicia`s idea that caught the imagination of all of the judgeson the day; we are hoping to introduce Alicia to one of ourcontacts in the jewellery trade to enable her to find out moreabout what working in that industry and the retail sector is reallylike."
Jim Harris, Centre Manager at St Stephen's Shopping Centrebelieves the competition is a fantastic way for young people to geta taste of business,
"It is so important to encourage young people to getinvolved in business. This competition has shown that youngindividuals can come up with innovative and interesting ideas thatcould be turned into real products. At St Stephen's Shopping Centrewe work extremely hard to support the local community reflectingsome of the key points from the Community Charter recentlyrolled-out by our owners, British Land. Our commitment to the HullCollege Enterprise Gateway is a natural extension of this and welook forward to helping young entrepreneurs start and develop theirbusinesses."
The Enterprise Gateway at Hull College offers enterprisinglearners the tools and support they need to start their ownbusinesses. The project employs a dedicated team who can offeradvice and support. There is also a specialist area where studentsand budding entrepreneurs can use facilities. Students can benefitfrom topical workshops, legal and financial support, access to theCollege's state of the art facilities plus working with a range ofindustry professionals.
At present there are a total of 60 students utilising theproject; creating a total of 26 businesses and 43 jobs for theregion.
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