Student Enterprise

Enterprise isn’t just about starting a business. It's about developing transferable skills that are valuable to any career, and seizing opportunities to gain experience outside of your degree. The Student Enterprise team gives students and graduates the support to develop practical skills and turn their ideas into a business or career.

Whether they want to become entrepreneurs, freelancers or work for a company, students and graduates benefit from a range of support services.

Subscribe to our email updates to keep up-to-date on our programmes, events, competitions, news and more.

Inspiring talks and workshops

Successful entrepreneurs from across the UK share their experiences and top tips at our free workshops and events. Students and graduates get the chance to find out what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, develop employability skills, network and enhance their CVs. Our sessions also help to build skills that are vital to any graduate's career or setting up a business.

Get more information on our talks and workshops on the Student Enterprise events page.

Get a Certificate in Enterprise

LSBU students and alumni that attend six of our workshops and talks can receive a Certificate in Enterprise. All you need to do is:

• Get a stamp on your Student Enterprise loyalty card at every event you attend
• Once you have six stamps, email us with what you have learnt along the way
• Get your Certificate and improve your CV!

Certificates are accredited by the Higher Education Achievement Report Award (HEAR) for LSBU undergraduate students only.

Start-up and accelerator programmes

We run a range of start-up and business accelerator programmes for students and graduates who want to try out a business idea or develop an existing business. The schemes provide access to talks, workshops, networks of entrepreneurs and mentors, office space, and specialist legal and intellectual property advice.

IdeaHub

Open exclusively to LSBU students and alumni (graduated in the last five years), IdeaHub begins with a 2-week hackathon called IdeaHack.

If you successfully launch your idea and can prove it works, you’ll become part of the IdeaHub, an exclusive community of entrepreneurs with access to further funding, legal support and desk space so that you can keep growing your idea.

Visit: www.ideahack.co.uk for more information.

Competitions

Competitions provide a great way for students and graduates to work in teams to develop their skills, practice pitching their ideas or gain access to funding for their business.

We run a series of competitions and hackathons in partnership with different external organisations throughout the year, including: Universities Business Challenge, The Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition and the London Higher – London Student Entrepreneur Competition.

Email the Student Enterprise team for more information.

Support for finding funding

We are eager to help students and recent alumni with finding financial help for their businesses and entrepreneurial ideas. Our offers include access to funding with our start-up schemes, and help with using crowdfunding.

Internships and consultancy

We also offer students and graduates opportunities to intern or work on consulting projects with local SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and start-ups. Internships with small companies allow graduates to see what it really takes to run a business and make an impact in a small team. Consultancy projects apply students’ academic knowledge in real-world scenarios and help solve real issues facing businesses.

Intellectual property support and workshops

Whether it’s an idea, a design or a product, Intellectual Property (IP) is a valuable asset that can be licensed or sold to generate income. We offer 1-2-1 guidance, support and a series of workshops to help students get to grips with what IP is and how it can work for them.

International graduate support

LSBU is a Start-up Visa endorsing body, meaning we can issue endorsement to LSBU international graduates who have completed their degree programme within the last two years.

To secure endorsement from LSBU, you have to demonstrate that you meet LSBU’s criteria for endorsement. The criteria are:

1. An original idea for a business that meets new or existing market needs with potential to add value to the UK economy. Rather than a routine business that will compete with other traders.
2. Demonstration of credibility and viability of the idea.
3. Evidence of the potential for the business to scale,
4. The entrepreneurial skills and commitment to develop that business.
5. A strong reason for the business to be based in the UK.
6. Financial resources to develop the idea.
7. The commitment to spending the majority of your working time on developing the idea and the business (at least 3 days per week).

Application deadlines for 2019-20 are as follows:

• Monday 25th November 2019 at 9:00am
• Monday 18th May 2020 at 9:00am
• Monday 3rd August 2020 9:00am

For more information about the Start-up Visa application process, please email international.advice@lsbu.ac.uk.

For more information on any of our services, please contact:
Student Enterprise Team
Tel: 020 7815 6912
Email: studententerprise@lsbu.ac.uk