Are you enterprising?

There might be some of you out there who are looking at all the different jobs available and are left thinking “I’d rather do something a bit different” or “I just can’t see myself working for someone else.” Or perhaps you’re just an innately enterprising kind of person and you want to find out how you can put your talents to best use.

If that sounds like you, next week from 16th to 22nd November is Global Enterprise Week and there are various different events and activities

Competition for creative and enterprising students

Venture Out is an ideas competition for students at The University of Manchester run by the Manchester Enterprise Centre. 

There are three categories, with prizes of up to £1,000 on offer. 

1. CEEBL Green award – rewarding ideas to improve the environment
2. Social Enterprise award – rewarding ideas to improve the lives of individuals and of communities
3. Business Innovation award – rewarding ideas that have commercial potential through new products or services

At this stage you simply need to explain your ideas and how they will have a positive impact on the lives of others. 

Interested students are welcome to attend a workshop designed to help them get their creative ideas flowing. This workshop take place on Friday 9 October between 12pm and 12.45pm in Lecture Theatre A in University Place.

There is also a workshop planned for students specifically interested in the CEEBL Green award. This workshop is taking place on Thursday 15 October between 4pm and 6.30pm at CEEBL C24 in the Sackville Street building.

More information on applying and booking onto workshops

Enterprise Week for budding entrepreneurs

Next week (from Monday 17th November) is Enterprise Week across the UK, and it’s all about helping you become more enterprising, finding opportunities to help you develop your skills and widen your experiences. This is vital if you are considering starting your own business now or in the future – or just want to make yourself more employable and attractive to recruiters.

There are a lot of activities going on in Manchester, from an essential “How to Start Your Own Business” workshop in the Careers Service through to the Business North West fair and conference, where you can hear talks from professionals such as Max Clifford, the PR Guru and Stephen Haines, Facebook Sales Director.

Find out more about what is happening in Enterprise Week.

Enterprise competition – win up to £1000!

Calling all enterprising students! You could win up to £1,000 if one of your ideas is successful in winning one of three awards in the Manchester Enterprise Centre’s “Venture Out” competition.

The competition is run every year, however this year it’s a bit different as there are now three categories of awards. There’s the Green Award for the best idea that will help improve the environment plus a Social Enterprise Award for the best idea that will improve the lives of individuals and communities, and there is the Business Innovation Award for the best ideas with commercial potential.

Winners in each category win £1,000 with runners-up winning £500 and £250 – you can enter in teams as well as individually. The Manchester Enterprise Centre’s website has loads of information plus the competition entry form.

The closing date is Monday 24th November.

Enterprising Futures?

For us Dragons’ Den fans Tuesday nights are a bit dull now the BBC’s sixth series has come to an end. But it does mean that if you’ve got a great business idea, you can apply to be on the next series www.bbc.co.uk/dragsonsden. Just don’t watch the new BBC comedy series, Harry and Paul – their Dragons’ Den sketch might just put you off while giving the rest of us a good laugh.

If you like the idea of working for yourself the careers service has lots of information and links to get you started. Check out the Be your own boss pages on the Careers Service website. In particular, why not check out the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, which was set up to encourage enterprising graduates. It’s also worth checking the self-employment section of the Prospects website. If you want to talk in confidence about a business idea or a general interest in self-employment, you can book an appointment with a Careers Consultant with an interest in this area – ring 0161 275 2829. Over the coming weeks we’ll let you know about enterprise talks we’re putting on, events we get to hear about and any snippets of info we think might interest you. (Louise S, Careers Service)