A university bootcamp has awarded £22,000 in funding to help launch new businesses.
The University of Suffolk’s Summer Start-Up Bootcamp, a six-week programme led by the Careers, Enterprise and Employability team, supports students and graduates from diverse backgrounds to develop, pitch, and potentially secure funding for their business ideas.
This year, 16 entrepreneurs took part, with 11 reaching the final on Tuesday, July 7.
Hannah Page, Business Engagement Consultant and project lead for the bootcamp at the University of Suffolk, said: "Every year we are inspired by the ambition, creativity and resilience by our students and graduates who take part in the bootcamps, and it was fantastic to see participants from such a wide range of courses applying entrepreneurial thinking to real-world challenges and bring their business ideas to life.
"We work hard with local business experts and industry partners to ensure the bootcamp sessions deliver real insight and knowledge for our entrepreneurs, and is just one of the many ways we seek to support our students and graduates beyond their studies."
The finalists pitched their ventures to a Dragon’s Den-style panel of judges, competing for a share of the £22,000 prize fund.
This total included £21,000 from the Higher Education Innovation Fund and £1,000 from Connected Innovation.
Darlington Nwosu, a data science and AI graduate, won £12,000 to advance Ceres-Carbon Reports, a carbon reporting platform.
Mr Nwosu said: "It feels great, it validates our idea and gives me great confidence to move forward and launch properly."
Hephzibah Gad, who has just completed her first year on the Business Management course, received £8,000 to grow Unity Eats, an African fusion pop-up eatery.
Ms Gad said: "It feels incredible and very humbling.
"Winning this funding is a great vote of confidence in the vision behind Unity Eats."
Sports performance analysis student Alex Le Ray was awarded £2,000 to attend the Bremen Space Conference.
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