Having gained a reputation for sending long emails, I thought it was appropriate for my last to be short! Relatively!

This past year has given us many reasons to celebrate; we have gone from a society trying to find its feet to over 1200 members making us one of the largest in the UK, raised about £10,000 in cash and in kind from organisations like Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, PWC, Accenture, Business Link, FlyingStart, Manchester Business School, the student union and Manchester Enterprise Centre.

Had over 500 applications to our competitions with Apprentice Manchester becoming the most applied to business competition in the University in just its 1st year. Held 10 amazing speaker events which almost a thousand of you attended featuring some of the best known entrepreneurs in the UK like Shaa Wasmund (Smarta), Imran Hakim (iTeddy), Julie Meyer (Ariadne Capital, and BBC Dragon),  Carl Hopkins (Kloog) and Claire Young (Apprentice)

Organised workshops to improve your skills and through the Micro-fund have given away £1000 to your businesses while paying for conference fees, promoting and supporting you in any way we could including start-ups like i) GiveMeTap which was recently featured in the Independent newspaper and trendwatching.com, awarded an HE Social Entrepreneurship Catalyst Award from UnLtd, won the Nacue Conference Shell LiveWIRE elevator pitch competition and runner up in the venture further business competition and ii)  EasySleep Music which has been featured as a national Start-up of the week and profiled on Manchester Evening News and Smarta

In the University’s annual Venture Out business idea competition, 6 out of the 9 winners had Manchester Entrepreneurs members and we have been recognised nationally as a top society.

In the most flattering of tributes to your involvement in the society this year and the work we put in, Manchester Entrepreneurs was last Thursday one of only three shortlisted as society of the year by National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) and National Enterprise Educators.

In all this, the achievement I am most proud of is the team taking over next session. Led by Geoff Roe,  I have no doubt in my mind they will do an amazing job and continue to move the society with unprecedented growth towards our aim of being the best enterprise support organisation in the country.  They have already got off to a great start by winning a national bid to host the prestigious National Student Enterprise Conference (NSEC).  I urge you to get involved and support the team in any way you can.

Lastly, I want to say thank you to Martin Henery of Manchester Enterprise Centre for his unwavering support, Henry Li, 2008/2009 President, my executive team- Arti Jethwa, Courtney Simms and Edwin Broni-Mensah, the Apprentice Manchester team, Fred Esere and Amman Ahmed who brought fresh ideas to the society and you our wonderful and inspiring members.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve. May the Lord hold you in good stead.

For the last time from me – Stay entrepreneurial,

Joseph Akinnagbe

President – Manchester Entrepreneurs 2009/2010

-

International students’ officer 2010/2011 – The University of Manchester Student Union

Winner: NUS/Endsleigh Student of the year

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8820000/8820492.stm

To apply all you have to do is email: Your name, contact email, student number and which position you would like to apply for to info@manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk and then you will be invited to an interview after exams. If you are not in Manchester we will do a telephone interview. If you have any questions please email info@manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk

Our organisational structure consists of a board of directors, core service heads and department team members. The board positions on offer include: Vice President and Marketing Director and these positions will be required to attend weekly board meetings. We wish to run a highly decentralised structure and all of the core service heads will be given full autonomy into how they run their service including if they wish to recruit further team members. Please note the roles stated below are not a full list of our positions, just the ones currently available.

All positions last for the whole academic year and there may be some work to do over the summer. Full training will be given and there will be a full, brief welcome meeting after exams. 

First Round of Applications close June 1.

Roles: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31414410/

Manchester Entrepreneurs Society Roles

This is it, with the final deadline 5pm April 19th, this is the last
chance to submit your business plan and try to win up to £8000 to help
move your business forward.

Each entry should comprise two files only, any additional files will
be ignored. These two files are
1) Your application and team details which will include a copy of your
executive summary and details of who if any MEC (Manchester Enterprise
Centre) staff you have met with when developing your entry
2) Your business plan

The files should be in pdf or Word 2003 format. You should try to
limit the main body of your plan to around 25-30 pages at the most,
use graphics were appropriate and note that your executive summary
will serve a major role in the initial screening process.

Additional resources to help you in your entry can be found at
http://www.box.net/shared/m0mxdbgsl8. In particular look at the files
in the folder ‘Guidance on writing a plan’ particularly those marked
‘read first’.

Good luck

The Venture Further Team

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Manchester students will come face to face with an Apprentice legend at a FlyingStart workshop in February.

Claire Young repeatedly challenged Sir Alan Sugar in the 2008 series, earning a reputation as a no nonsense sales woman, often referred to as a ‘Rottweiler.’

Despite being the bookies biggest ever favourite to win the Apprentice, she lost out in the final to Lee McQueen. This didn’t deter her though, as she went on to start her own wedding services business, Elegant Venues, after spotting a gap in the hospitality market.

Claire will inject her fiery, entrepreneurial spirit to students and graduates looking to start their own business, on 10th February 2010 at a workshop organised by the Manchester Entrepreneurs and FlyingStart.

Lucky attendees will have the chance share her experiences of starting a business from scratch, as well as hear from other speakers including Scott Woodhead, founder of £1m business Loving Outdoors, Eryca Freemantle, founder of Face the Facts make up school whose previous clients include MTV, BBC and Whitney Houston.

There will also be an ideas generation workshop, to help develop and perfect business ideas, led by marketing expert Dan Sodergren.

The workshop will take place at Theatre A, Zochonis Building University of Manchester, on 10th February 2010 at 1.00pm. Graduates and students can register for the event, by visiting the FlyingStart website: http://www.flyingstartonline.com/public/fsworkshops/upcoming

David Bozward, director of FlyingStart said:

“Manchester students have always been entrepreneurial, so FlyingStart are delighted to be supporting Manchester Entrepreneurs for this fantastic event. With great speakers such as Claire Young, this is a not to be missed workshop for anyone interested in starting a business.”

Joseph Akinnagbe, President of the Manchester Entrepreneurs said:

“At Manchester Entrepreneurs we have a clear mission of nurturing entrepreneurship and are proud to work with great organisations like flyingStart in achieving this. The calibre of speakers and post-event support really does make this a must attend”

The day will also see the launch of Manchester Entrepreneurs’ Support Fund and its idea to market programme. Exciting times lay ahead for student entrepreneurs.

Join Manchester Entrepreneurs and the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs(NACUE) North region in one of the biggest events ever at University of Manchester.

Listen to a collection of intellectual, inspiring and practical talks from UK’s leading entrepreneurs.

Talking on the night will be NACUE Senior Advisor Julie Meyer, Founder of Ariadne Capital and First Tuesday and BBC Online Dragon. Joining Julie will be Imran Hakim, Director of University of Manchester Intellectual property and inventor of iTeddy, and Alex Wrottesley, former Real Madrid FC consultant and co-founder of Nearglobal.com

It’s FREE and by attending you will also get:

**Opportunity to network with speakers
**Network with other ambitious entrepreneurs not just in Manchester but from the entire North.
**Free Business advice from Business Link on everything from idea generation to marketing and finances.
**Free canapés and drinks courtesy of Manchester Enterprise Centre
**£50 voucher from eOffice
**And for each Manchester Start-up, eOffice are offering Free Office services worth £1,000.

Date:December 10th
Time: 5.00pm-7.30pm
Registration starts at 4.30pm.
Venue:C009, Renold Building. University of Manchester
Cost: FREE but you do have to register.

Register at:

Event is sponsored and supported by Business Link Northwest while Networking Session is sponsored by Manchester Enterprise Centre

***
Venue Details:

Venue:Room C009, Reynolds Building. University of Manchester (North Campus)

Map:http://tinyurl.com/renoldbuilding

Travel instructions:

2 minutes from Piccadilly Train Station.

Direction:http://tinyurl.com/piccadilly-renold

***
Business Link Northwest - http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/northwest
Manchester Enterprise Centre - http://www.mbs.ac.uk/mec
NACUE - http://www.nacue.com/

Manchester Entrepreneurs - http://www.manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk/
Mailing List: http://groupspaces.com/manchesterentrepreneurs/join/

October 14th 2009: Meet and Greet

October 20th 2009: Skills Workshop - Accenture

November 17th 2009: Business Game - Make Your Mark

November 18th 2009: Speakers Series: GEW Special

November 19th 2009: Speed Networking

December 10th 2009: The Pitch - Win Funding for your business

(Speakers: Julia Meyer - Online Dragon’s Den and top 30 most influential women in Europe)

February 1st 2010: Mentorship Scheme - with Career Service

February 10th 2010: Flying Start: Business Bootcamps

March 10-12th 2010: Apprentice - Test your skills to the limit

March 26th 2010: TEDx University of Manchester

April 23rd 2010: The pitch - Win Funding for your idea

May 22nd 2010: End of year Ball

Other events:

— Fun days Out (Twice per semester)

— Conversation Pods (Weekly )

If you would like to join our team next year, we would like to invite you to our Leadership Empowering Workshop (Our Recruitment Event) on

Monday 15th June 2009 from 4:00pm-6:00pm at C24 Sackville Street Building,
Sackville Street, Manchester. M60 1QD
(Detail of the venues: http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/ceebl/facilities/ )

Target Audience: Prospective Enterprise Society Managers and Project Leaders 2009-2010.

Timetable:

4:00-4:15 Everything you need to know about Manchester University Enterprise Society

Summary: Founder of the society Henry Li will give you an overview about the society, its plans for the upcoming year and most importantly what you can get out of it.

4:15-4:20 ‘Wealth Dynamic’ Exercise (It usually cost $100 for this personality exercise, we offer it for free only to our potential leaders next year)
http://wdprofiletest.com/

4:20-4:50 Exercise Begin

4:50-5:00 Tea Break

5:00-5:20 Analyse the exercise in groups

5:20-5:40 Managing a Team

Summary: Training delivered by current society managers, what we’ve learnt this year about how to manage a group of volunteers

5:40-6:00 Events Management

Summary: One of the best ways to get your message across is through events, in this session, we will teach you how to effectively manage events.

The event is free and open to members of all faculties. To book your place, please email: info@manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk listing your name, year of study and your course.

Refreshments will be available to registered guests, so please book your place ASAP. The deadline for book your place is 12th June 2009. Places are limited, tickets are on first come, first serve basis.

(Notes: In order to do the wealth dynamic test, you need to bring your laptop to the event)

After the workshop, you will have the opportunity to join our senior managers as well as successful entrepreneurs for a dinner at Malmaison Hotel Manchester (http://www.malmaison-manchester.com/ ) if you seriously consider joining our team next year.

(Confirmed Entrepreneurs for example: Imran Hakim, founder of Iteddy. Winner of Dragon’s Den.)

DATE: 9th MAY 2009

TIME: 11:00am to 5:00pm

PRICE: approx £25/person

TRANSPORTATION: we will provide minibus from the uni to go ape site

PLEASE SIGN UP NOW AS SPACE IS LIMITED!!
a deposit of £10 is required (to be collected next week)

TO SIGN UP:
Call Vicki at 07551384765
or by email at info@manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk

Not sure what it is? Take a look at the video below.
http://www.goape.co.uk/days-out-in/cumbria/grizedale/the-course

Our Grizedale course (the jewel in our crown) has always proved popular. Built on a side of a hill, it feels seriously high. And that’s because it is. Fly 200 metres across the top of the Grizedale Beck and marvel at the forest canopy 18 metres up a magnificent Douglas Fir.

For 2009 there are two new magnificent long zip wires… the icing on the cake.

* Highest point: Site 4 Zip Wire platform 19m
* Longest Zip Wire: Site 3 Zip Wire 275m
* Longest crossing: Grandpops crossing (site 2) 22.5m
* Total length of all crossings: 908m
* Number of crossings: 39
* Number of sections: 6

Venue: The Oxford Pub, 421 - 423 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WG

Time: 14:00-16:00pm

We truly believe that the future is in your hand, in our conversation club, each participant read an article that they love the most to the rest of the group on a Friday afternoon, we discuss what is happening around the world, predict what will happen in the future and plan for actions.

What happened in our Friday conversation club last week?

1, We read something exciting
2, We shared something we are passionate about
3, We understood others better
4, We had a few drinks
5, We had a nice sofa to sit
6, We had a good time

Prize Draw from the Flying Start Feedback Forms will be announced at the end of the event. We will also be signing interests for our events after easter.