The Startup Society are committed to being more diverse in both their board, members and variety of events than ever before and are committed to offering value to their members. President Andin Farrel tells us more.
The Startup Society for the academic year 2019-2020 is committed to being more diverse than ever before. Not only from our diverse board and committee, but in the events we put on for our members. We pride ourselves on nourishing an environment where students can be entrepreneurial and be different. We are the premier scene for entrepreneurship at the University of Birmingham! Anyone interested in business and entrepreneurship should come to our events.
This year we’ve planned to introduce more types of events, including workshops, socials, and networking. We are more committed than ever to deliver value to our members. The year has started off with talks about funding, property management and investing, and technology. We’ve also had a workshop session and social.
Our events give students a chance to learn about particular areas of entrepreneurship. For example, our introductory event gave advice on how business can raise money for their ventures. It also gives our members the chance meet entrepreneurial experts and ask in-depth questions. There’s also networking opportunity between members, for example our IT event had students from both the Computer Science and Startup Societies.
Kacper Kielak, data scientist at Featurespace, giving a talk on artificial intelligence
Vilmos Czeroczky, 3rd year Computer Science student, giving a workshop on the Internet of Things
Shahbaz Khokhar, Director of Montague Property Group, giving a seminar on property businesses
Steve Page, former CEO of Mobile Commerce, giving a talk on entrepreneurship
We’ve also continued our relationships with outside institutions, such as B-Enterprising to the Birmingham Enterprise Community. Through these relationships we offer our members access to training, funding and accelerators, as well as special events. One such event the Birmingham Enterprise Community’s launch of its accelerator in January.
Next term we’re planning on finishing strong. We’ve got events in e-commerce and car technology just to name a few. Moreover, we have our premier competition Startup Games in March. Startup Games is the society’s flagship event: similar to Dragons Den, participants will pitch their business or business idea and then get quizzed by our judges to potentially win some great prizes. Prizes will be awarded up to £1,400 and all finalists with get a stall at the University Career Network’s Startup Connection Event. This is one of the most valuable prizes as winners will get the chance to be right next to some of Birmingham’s best entrepreneurs. It’s a great opportunity to meet like-minded individuals, grow your network, and win some money for your business.
