News Article

LJMU’s Business Development Centre has hosted its third annual Graduate Entrepreneurs Awards.

The awards ceremony and networking event celebrate the achievements of graduate entrepreneurs who have been successful in setting up businesses and commercially exploiting innovative ideas. The awards also recognise the invaluable support provided by volunteer business mentors from the local business community.

Over 120 guests from LJMU’s Start-Up Entrepreneurs Network attended the event at Parr Street Studios’ venue Studio 2, co-owned by LJMU alumnus Gary Millar.

Opening the awards, LJMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Brown highlighted the fact that LJMU continues to be one of the top universities in the UK for its work with business and the community and how, through WoW™, the University’s globally unique model of Higher Education, LJMU graduates are some of the most entrepreneurial in the country.

The awards are part of LJMU’s comprehensive and highly successful portfolio of support for student entrepreneurs launched in 2003, which has seen over two thousand graduates attend workshops on setting up their own businesses, receive bespoke business training and advice and benefit from bursaries to help them set up in business.

Jon Barrett, Director of Commercial and Enterprise Development, said: “We have a strong track record for establishing new businesses and for providing the kind of practical advice and training that can make the difference between a new business succeeding or falling at the first hurdle. It is important to recognise the achievements of graduate entrepreneurs at events such as this and to spread the word about LJMU’s ability to support entrepreneurship.”

Entrepreneurship Champion, Amanda Smith, added: “In 2009, LJMU’s Student Enterprise team supported the creation of 30 new business ventures on our Enterprise Fellowship programme and we hope to increase the number of places on our next year’s programme. LJMU supports graduates who are looking to set up in business and now with the launch of our mentoring programme we can provide much needed support to help businesses prosper in the early year of trading. Our awards event is an opportunity to celebrate the success of our graduates and also recognise the valuable contribution industry professionals bring to supporting our programmes.”

Commenting after the awards event, Dominique Aspey, Enterprise Network Manager said: “We continue to be inspired by the achievements of our students and graduates. These awards have once again demonstrated that there is a thriving entrepreneurial spirit in this city and we thank our sponsors and everyone involved with this event for making it another resounding success.”

Award recipients

Young Enterprise Volunteer of the Year
Management Consultant David Hearn for his work mentoring student groups on the Young Enterprise Graduate Programme.

Entrepreneurial Alumnus of the Year
Richard Pontefract and David McTague of Another Media Ltd, for their support of enterprise education and entrepreneurship at LJMU.

The Innovation award (sponsored by Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
Product designer Ilsa Parry of REthinkthings for her diverse product portfolio and long term vision to open a creative innovation centre.

Best use of LJMU’s Business Start-up Support (sponsored by TJ Morris Ltd, Home Bargains)
Andrew Harrold and Craig Bond of Clever Craft for time spent working with the University when developing their educational resource packs.

Start-up of the Year 2009 (sponsored by Liverpool Vision)
Trendy Vend Ltd, run by sisters Kayleigh Baccino and Talia Baccino for their stylish vending machine business that has clients in a number of city centre locations.

LJMU would like to thank our sponsors: Liverpool Vision (main sponsor); Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and Industry; TJ Morris Ltd, Home Bargains; Glow New Media; National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship; Young Enterprise NW.

For more information on the Start-Up Network or the work of the Student Enterprise team in supporting student and graduate business start-up, please contact the team on 0151-231 8060 or email d.aspey@ljmu.ac.uk