PCE Annual Review 2011

Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise Review 2011Developing Britain’s Future Entrepreneurs

Autumn 2011

2 Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise Review 2011 www.port.ac.uk

Welcome

Enterprise and employabilityI have often observed the seeming paradox that the harder our students and graduates work to start their own businesses, the more likely they are to get head-hunted or find themselves being offered a job. This is because the very skills and attributes that we seek to develop at Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise (PCE) are the same ones that employers are looking for in graduates. If you are looking to hire a graduate who has proved they are a self-starter, can turn ideas into reality, take calculated risks and demonstrate leadership, then you are looking for an enterprising individual. And what better way for a student to develop those attributes than to get involved with the activities of PCE.

It is for this reason that PCE has this year become part of the Department of Employability. Sitting alongside Purple Door Careers and Recruitment is a natural progression for us, allowing closer links with local businesses. When the issue of graduate employment is so high on everyone’s agenda, to be able to help graduates not only find work, but also to create their own jobs is increasingly important.

This move also means we can open up our offer to our alumni who graduated a number of years ago. In many ways, a good degree, some industry experience and an entrepreneurial spirit is the ideal mix of factors in an early stage entrepreneur. Helping such alumni develop new businesses brings many benefits: it helps the University to add value to its alumni network, enables our alumni to create jobs

and wealth, and creates work experience, mentoring and future job opportunities for our current students.

Having worked to support our students and graduates to create new ventures for over ten years, PCE is well placed to nurture a network where successful entrepreneurial alumni return to help the next generation. In June, we launched the Portsmouth Alumni Entrepreneur Network with a dinner in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth (see page 6), and over the coming year we aim to build on this to ensure that the University has its own unique and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Richard Sant, Director of EnterprisePortsmouth Centre for Enterprise, University of Portsmouth

Enterprising students Alumni

enterpreneurs

Mentoring

Sponsors of the Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise

Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise Review 2011 3www.port.ac.uk

News

This year Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise (PCE) has appointed three visiting entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and expertise with our students and graduates in helping to develop their ideas and enterprising skills. We caught up with one of our visiting entrepreneurs, Simon Greenly, to find out what is involved in this new role.

What motivates you to be a visiting entrepreneur?The opportunity to engage with students as they prepare themselves for their future careers is a compelling one. Helping them to learn about entrepreneurial behaviour and just what makes business tick is invaluable to anybody entering the world of work and not just to those people who wish to start a business. There are many things that create great businesses that include such things as enduring products, patents and meeting

needs that are recurring and growing. But if you asked me to identify the most important thing over and above everything else, then having the right people on board is essential. If you get that in place then the rest will follow. Hopefully, we can help the University grow the right people.

How does this fit with your other roles? Currently there are three activities that occupy my working life: chairing Greenlys Board and the Board of the newly amalgamated Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, and acting as a visiting entrepreneur at the University of Portsmouth. There is a common thread to all three activities, which is to help create new businesses and support the really ambitious ones to develop into strong players in the Hampshire economy.

Who are the other two visiting entrepreneurs?Prems Scrampical is a University of Portsmouth alumnus who with his wife has helped start a really successful service business based in Fareham and Mumbai, Colvill Banks Ltd. Paul Quigley is the Managing Director and Business Coach at Woodstock Consultants Ltd. Both are passionate about business and helping others, and as a trio we have complementary skills and a wide range of different experiences.

If you would like to get involved with PCE in any way including mentoring, sponsorship, our network and much more, please contact us using the details on the back of this review.

Paul QuigleyPrems ScrampicalSimon Greenly


News

Enterprise lecturer sets the trail ablazeAt the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (IEEC) 2010 our very own Simon Brookes received a National Enterprise Educators Award, which recognises excellence in enterprise education. Simon, who is Senior Lecturer at Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise (PCE), was highly commended for his work on authentic learning activities for enterprise. He uses a fictitious company, Phoenix UK Ltd, to teach undergraduates how to turn around failing businesses.

‘I want to try and immerse students into a simulated experience which is much closer to reality than anything else available,’ said Simon. ‘The results so far have been wonderful – students have really embraced it and taken it seriously. They are coming out at the end of the course sharper and readier to run businesses in an entrepreneurial way.’

A spokesperson for the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, which runs the conference with Enterprise Educators UK, said: ‘The competition this year was extremely tough and all shortlisted candidates impressed with their fantastic work. They are trail blazers for entrepreneurship education.’

Simon also recently won the runner-up prize for outstanding overall positive impact on students at our own Students’ Union student-led teaching awards. Students and alumni voted for individual staff and departments who they felt were unsung

heroes across the University. Here are the reasons behind why Simon was nominated, in the words of his students:

‘Throughout his teaching he has constantly been looking for and implementing, innovative ways of teaching and keeping his students engaged and motivated. His use of technology is vast and varied. Simon has always encouraged us as students to be more creative, think of things in different ways and, most importantly, not to be afraid of change or the unknown. Simon Brookes is not only an amazing human being that can relate to his students beyond his profession as a teacher, but also rises above it to connect with his students in so many ways. His passion for entrepreneurship is something that he shares fervently with his students and many of them having become established entrepreneurs always come back and thank him for his help.’

The Kauffman wayIn early July, Craig Hellen, University of Portsmouth alumnus and owner of video production and webcasting company Bexmedia, was one of only 12 graduates asked to help the prestigious Kauffman Foundation.

The group consisted of Kauffman Global Scholars – an initiative hosted by the Kauffman Foundation in the US. They met in London to discuss global entrepreneurship, and their ideas and experiences will contribute to the development of the initiative. During the day-long event, the

entrepreneurs visited several innovative businesses in the capital, including SoundCloud and moo.com.

Commenting on the event, Craig said: ‘It was simply excellent, a lot of great people and a lot of knowledge shared. Everyone has been making significant progress and had a lot to say on better ways to both engage and provide for the next generation of start-ups.’

Enterprising Europe Following on from the update in last year’s review, Natalie Long, Senior Lecturer at the University, has been working hard on the ‘Embedding a Culture of Creativity and Enterprise in the Curriculum’ (ECCEC) project with partners from across Europe.

The project aims to promote creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit in the school curriculum via materials and events for teachers and managers in educational establishments from pre-school to further education.

In June, Natalie organised a successful test event in Milan, which brought together 40 teachers and school managers from Sweden, Italy, the Czech Republic and the UK to share best practice. This included a presentation from Anne Steele Arnett, Head Teacher at St Mark’s School in Southampton and Rachel Weldon, Deputy Head at St George’s School on the Isle of Wight on the work they have been doing with Creative Partnerships (CP).


Sue Bradley, Director of CP and working from Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise, was also invited to speak alongside Nigel George a social entrepreneur and creative practitioner from Eccleston George Public Artists based on the Isle of Wight.

Nigel said of the conference: ‘It was so interesting to see how we, independently, have interpreted the meaning of the ECCEC ethos and how creative aspirations and understanding of what it all means vary. This study and associated events offer a wonderful opportunity to pursue some enterprising links that could have enormous potential for inter-European creative school projects.’

The results of the event will be evaluated and used to develop the team’s final concept for the project, presented at the final event in Sweden in 2012.

If you would like more information about the project or would like to attend the final event, please contact Natalie Long on 023 9284 5359 or [email protected]. More details about the project and the project partners can be found on the website http://ececcc.eu.

Spellbinding new board gameUniversity of Portsmouth alumna and entrepreneur, Rachel Lowe, has released her latest product, Destination Hogwarts.

Rachel launched her Destination board game range six years ago, starting with Destination London. This was followed by Destination Portsmouth and a further 19 editions of the game including Disney’s Destination Animation.

Although first launched in 2008, the Destination Hogwarts edition of the board game was put on the back burner because of the recession. This year Rachel and her business partner have started a new company, She Who Dares UK Ltd, and relaunched an updated Destination Hogwarts. The relaunch was part of a Harry

Potter™ event at the London Film Museum, which attracted over 3,000 fans.

With the new game, players win house points by travelling around Harry’s school of witchcraft and wizardry, avoiding pitfalls. You can now purchase the game in a variety of shops including Toys ‘R’ Us, Debenhams and Harrods, as well as online at www.destinationboardgames.com.

Rachel has also secured the rights to produce Destination London 2012, an official product of next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For more information on Rachel’s new ventures, visit www.rachellowe.co.uk.


Alumni

Inaugural dinner to launch networkThe launch of what Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise (PCE) plans to build into a thriving network was celebrated with enthusiasm at an inaugural dinner in June.

The dinner, which was held in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, was attended by almost 50 guests and marked the beginning of the new Portsmouth Alumni Entrepreneur Network. The Network means alumni entrepreneurs can gain support from both PCE and each other, plus lend experience to future entrepreneurs at the University.

Guests were treated to some wise words from PCE’s newly appointed visiting

entrepreneur, Simon Greenly, and were tasked with answering the following three important questions during the dinner:

• What can we as a University do for you?• What can you do to help each other?• What can you do as successful

entrepreneurs to help budding entrepreneurs at the University?

There was a real spark in the atmosphere with guests exchanging stories, ideas and contacts. After such a successful evening, PCE plans to create a series of events and opportunities allowing long-lasting relationships to develop.

Guest comments

‘After leaving the event, I was still buzzing at 2am! Having the facilitator at each table was really useful, I learned so much. I want to acknowledge you for your commitment and energy in organising this event impeccably. I am looking forward to the next one!’Ruth Collins, Founder of Ashling Art (www.ashlingart.com) and University of Portsmouth alumna

‘The evening was most enjoyable and I hope it will prove profitable for the entrepreneurs both present and upcoming.’Lucille Pendry, Independent Learning Research and University of Portsmouth alumna

‘The dinner was a great idea if judged by the reaction on the table I was at. There was clearly an appetite to assist with an alumni programme and all participated in a lively discussion with some very good commitment and ideas.’Paul Quigley, Visiting Entrepreneur

‘Developing our Alumni Entrepreneur Network is a fundamentally important aspect of supporting the entrepreneurial culture of this university.’Richard Sant, Director of Enterprise, PCE


Portsmouth graduate makes top 30 under 30sUniversity of Portsmouth alumnus, Orcun Adsoy, who co-runs games development company Distinction Games with Damien Stadden, was applauded by an industry magazine in January.

Orcun made the annual ‘30 under 30’ list published by Develop magazine – a specialist games development publication – to highlight the sector’s rising stars under 30 years of age. This shows we were right to promote Distinction Games as the ‘ones to watch’ in last year’s review.

Orcun was selected for his creation of the company and appears on the list alongside well-known games development professionals, including those working on games such as Fable 3 and Bejeweled Live. The 22-year-old said: ‘I was amazed to find out I’d made this list, as some of the other people featured are working for big names in the industry or are already big names themselves.

‘I really had no idea Distinction Games would take off as much as it has. The initial intention was to start up a business after finishing my course, but I was lucky enough to take advantage of the University’s Centre for Enterprise and take a year out of my studies to work full time on the company.’

Orcun was nominated for the award by his lecturer Mark Eyles, who said: ‘Develop is a well-regarded magazine in the trade and Orcun deserves the recognition. He’s worked incredibly hard to progress his company and has some exciting projects in the pipeline – he’s definitely one to watch.’

Distinction Games has so far worked on a number of commissions including an interactive web-based learning aid with game elements for the University of Portsmouth and two projects for the Xbox360 Live Arcade Indie market. It is also in negotiation with Blitz Arcade about publishing of one of their games, which would be a huge step forward. Watch this space to see what is next for Distinction Games!

www.disitnctiongames.co.uk

Ones to watch!Applying their unique brillianceApplied Brilliance was formed in July 2010 by two University of Portsmouth graduates – Lee Prior and Nathan Gaskin. After working in the web industry throughout University, Lee and Nathan saw the mobile app market emerging and growing as they graduated. Both wanting a slice of the action, they decided to form a company dedicated to building quality mobile apps.

A year later and Applied Brilliance have around ten commercial apps under their belt, including apps for iPhone, iPad and Android platforms, as well as apps produced on behalf of other brands that cover areas such as music events and artist promotion, sports events and the pharmaceutical industry. If this wasn’t enough, they also own independent titles such as Brilliant SMS for the iPad – a top ten hit on Apple’s App Store.

Applied Brilliance are still busy working away on exciting new projects and are now looking to grow all aspects of their business, from branding and marketing to expansion of the development team. Ultimately, Applied Brilliance want to continue producing brilliant products for all the great new mobile devices and platforms emerging in the ever growing mobile market.


This year the Challenge witnessed a few changes to its usual format, with not only cash prizes up for grabs but also the opportunity to undertake both national and international work experience.

Stage Two had the most radical change with students being asked to write a business proposal and create a five-minute video pitch to be shown to the judges, who were looking for business ideas that were both viable and innovative.

The winners of Stage Two, which was held at Action Stations in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard in May 2011, were:

• Most advanced business idea, winning one week’s international work experience with Colvill Banks Ltd in Mumbai and £250

Gilles Macey – for his European fantasy football game, Euro-Eleven

• Most innovative business idea, winning £1,750

Abigail Dillon – for her hoop device shopping aid, Hanger2

• Business idea with the most potential, winning £1,750

William Moore – for his company Rubixcard a social business directory

• Student with the most entrepreneurial spirit, winning one day’s work experience at city broker firm, SSL Insurance Brokers, and £250

Tom Dwyer-Mann – for his video games retail business, Retro Games Ltd

After an exciting day of presentations and networking, guests and students were inspired by the words of Prems Scrampical, founder of Colvill Banks Ltd and a University of Portsmouth alumnus. Prems said how valuable it is to do work experience and wanted to give something back to the University by providing an opportunity for a current student.

The winner, Gilles, said: ‘It’s such an honour to be presented with this great opportunity of work experience in India. It still hasn’t sunk in that I will be flying out to work for such a successful company, an experience that will

hopefully provide me with the knowledge to take my own business to the next level.’

‘The prize money is a fantastic boost for Euro-Eleven and comes at a welcome time when marketing for the website and the game is absolutely vital for its potential success. We will now be running a comprehensive marketing campaign – exciting times for us! I am eternally grateful to the University, the Centre for Enterprise and to all sponsors who have made this opportunity possible.’

Director of the PCE, Richard Sant, said: ‘I’m delighted that we’ve had yet another successful Challenge this year. We’re investing a lot in the Centre’s key assets – students, staff, sponsors and alumni – and I really feel this is evident in the quality of entries and the support for the event.’

Rob Smith, Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Challenge judge, said: ‘From a corporate point of view it is good to be involved with young people that have lots of ideas. The enterprise, innovation, drive and determination is very impressive’.

A big thank you goes out to all of our sponsors, not only for their generous sponsorship that goes directly to the winning students, but also for their time and continued support.

The Enterprise Challenge

The Enterprise Challenge is a two-stage competition run by Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise (PCE), inviting all University of Portsmouth students to identify and develop an idea with commercial or social potential.


On a winning streakFollowing success in our own University events and competitions, a number of University of Portsmouth students have gone on to compete and succeed in regional or national competitions.

Sean Larsen, Andrew Martin and Dan O’Brien brought home £1,500 in prize money for their entrepreneurial ideas and product designs in the Bright Science Ideas Competition. In the competition for universities in the South, students submit ideas relating to STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. There were over 170 entries from nine of the region’s top STEM universities.

Sean said: ‘The competition was very high so it was tempting to feel like the underdog, but it made winning one of the top prizes even

more satisfying. Coming on top of my success at the Enterprise Challenge, it is a brilliant way to approach the end of my degree and has given me confidence for the future.’

Abigail Dillon, winner at Stage One and Stage Two of the Enterprise Challenge, also made it to the semi-finals of the National Varsity Pitch Competition 2011.

Richard Sant of PCE said: ‘It confirms that our students have real flair for innovation and entrepreneurship, and demonstrates that we can compete against some of the best universities – and win.’


Events

‘For Sale’Sales of £1,000 of art on the opening night at this year’s ‘For Sale’ art exhibition topped the earnings for the entire three-week-long event last year.

The exhibition, which is run by Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise (PCE), offers creative students the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work. With a price tag restriction of £50 or less, exhibitors had to consider their use of materials and resources if they wished to make a profit.

In total over £2,000 worth of work was sold – ranging from paintings and prints to jewellery and toys – with all money made going straight back to the artists. The top earner was illustrator Sue Meredith, who alone made £764 (see image above). This was followed by illustrator Arran Mackintosh, who sold £375 worth of his ‘Scroll of Britain’ prints.

Cheryl Buggy, the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, attended the opening of the exhibition and bought a picture of Portsmouth Guildhall by student Sue Meredith to hang in her office.

Richard Sant, Director of Enterprise at PCE and exhibition organiser, said: ‘It’s our own affordable art fair, where you can find a perfect Christmas present at a reasonable price.’

And for the second year running, ‘For Sale’ was awarded the ‘Outstanding Impact Award’ by Enterprise UK as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Enterprise ‘Dynamo’ Boot CampFor the seventh year running Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise joined forces with four other universities – Southampton, Winchester, Bournemouth and Southampton Solent – to stage the Enterprise ‘Dynamo’ Boot Camp.

The Boot Camp is an intense but fun-filled event where students from these universities work together on a variety of Apprentice-style challenges, solving real business problems. They then pitch their ideas to a panel of esteemed judges, who decide on the winning team.

There were, in fact, two boot camps this year, with the most recent held on 7 June at the historical Square Tower in Portsmouth, in conjunction with IBM Global Entrepreneur. The focus of the day was on creativity and ideas, rather than technical knowledge, and was designed to improve the students’ enterprise skills, enhance their CV, and give them a chance to network with IBM professionals and guests from local businesses.

The challenge for the 50 students was set by IBM in relation to its Smarter Planet initiative, which aims to infuse intelligence into everything we use to make the world work

better. They had less than three hours to come up with their own initiative, which could focus on any aspect of everyday life such as transportation, healthcare or food production.

The winning idea, aiming to deliver efficiency and benefits to commuters on London public transport, offered rewards for greener travel and notifications about alternative transport routes. The winning team received a ground pass for a day at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, including a very special behind-the-scenes technology tour.

IBM’s Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor, Andy Stanford-Clark engaged the students with some of his more quirky inventions including his live ferry-tracking system and his twittering house plant that tweets him when it needs watering. Charlotte Clark, a Winchester student, described Andy as one of the best guest speakers she had heard.

Carley Cummings, Events Co-ordinator at PCE, said: ‘It’s incredibly motivating for students to be working with a world-class employer; the venue was literally buzzing by the end of the day. These kinds of events develop students’ enterprise and employability skills, so we intend to create more opportunities like this. Watch this space!’


PIPEline – supplying new business to the Hampshire regionNow in its second year, PIPEline (Portsmouth Integrated Programme for Enterprise) has recently seen its fourth cohort of students complete the programme with some great successes emerging.

PIPEline is an intensive short programme to support idea-stage entrepreneurs from the University of Portsmouth wishing to develop their own business after graduation. Through interactive workshops, participants learn the basics about business start-up, pitch their ideas to a panel and are paired with a mentor to help them develop their ideas further.

For his idea called Ball-In-One – a unique apparatus for the most effective and efficient push-up performance – Tom Cox won £500 sponsored by BCRM and support developing his idea at the Summer PIPEline 2011.

When asked about his experience, Tom said: ‘PIPEline not only provided me with invaluable information and guidance regarding taking my product to market, but perhaps most importantly of all, gave me confidence in my idea and that pursuing its potential was the right thing to do.’

He added: ‘Having a mentor was a great aspect of the programme, enabling me to have one-on-one time with an experienced professional who perhaps had the same success I was hoping to achieve.’

Geoff Jacobs, PIPEline mentor and owner of G J Jacobs Consulting, described mentoring today as an opportunity for both mentor and mentee to exchange ideas.

‘The mentee brings ambition, energy and enthusiasm to the project, whilst the mentor brings experience, patience and wisdom, to maximise project success potential,’ he said. ‘I continue to be encouraged by the passion these entrepreneurs bring to their projects and yet, every time, each is prepared to ask and listen to my ideas. I cast my mind back to when I was their age and I wish I had their determination.’

The business of Winter PIPEline 2010 winner, Laura Griffiths, is fully up and running. Laura developed the Dummy Fairy (www.thedummyfairy.co.uk) – a dummy-weaning aid which includes a storybook and doll. Laura’s prizes included radio advertising on Coast FM and mentoring from co-founder of the programme and Director of Greenly’s Holdings Ltd, Simon Greenly.

He said: ‘Supporting PIPEline fits perfectly with one of Greenly’s main strategic thrusts, namely to encourage the creation of new enterprises and to embolden the people who will lead them.’

Portsmouth Centre for Enterprise (PCE), which co-founded and runs the programme, is thrilled at the success that has been achieved so far and the chance to support sustainable businesses, such as Solent Office Solutions run by Isobel Gatherer. Isobel was herself one of the original candidates on the pilot of the programme in January 2010.

‘It was from taking part in the ‘Big Pitch’ that I was spotted by the Chairman of the panel and given the opportunity to move my business idea on to the next level. This resulted in the launch of my business in April 2010.’

Isobel’s business is continously growing and she is a constant support to the PIPEline programme. Not only does Solent Office Solutions now sponsor the programme, Isobel also sits on the panel of judges.

For more information on the PIPEline programme, please contact PCE.

Programmes

MD6479 0911

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Documents

PCE Annual Review 2011