Kent Round One

Seven student groups presented their ideas for their Student Led Volunteering Projects.  The candidates were of a very high standard, and the Dragons (three from BAE Systems, one from the Heart of Kent Hospice) faced a tough decision in where the £250 would go. 

The Dragons decided to split the prize money, Stefany Duah and Aileen Lifa (SSPSSR) won £200 to take their art scheme forward with the WRVS in Chatham, and £50 was awarded to Patsy Amadi (Social Work) to start her ´Medway Right to Read´ scheme. 

Back row left to right: Maryam Abdolhossein-Mazrei, Tamara Amobi, David Woolley, Ethan Sacré.  Bottom row left to right: Caroline Walsh, Stefany Duah, Aileen Lifa, Sherwin Joseph.

Many congratulations to all those who entered.

Winners of the University of Kent BIG Ideas Competition were awarded at last Network612 of the year on Thursday 7^th April at Canterbury Innovation Centre.

The judges had a very difficult job in Canterbury, and in the end decided to divide the prize between three candidates, with a cheque of £1500 to each. By a whisker, they decided that the winner’s certificate should go to Jack Kemp, who had an innovative docking station, which allowed you to play sound through any receiver wirelessly. Jack had a prototype to show the judges and they were very impressed with the idea.

The other two runners up were Ella Corner for her business Belle Vintage  

and Seema Argwaal, a budding entrepreneur in the music industry, with her new start-up Resonance Music. All the judges commented on the passion of the three winners, and how entrepreneurial they all were.

In Medway, the judges also had an extremely difficult job, but eventually decided on a winner and runner up. The winners were Nicola Gough and Sue Bagnall, who had developed a CPD programme for dental nurses

 The students will use the prize money of £3000 to develop their website.

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A wonderful social enterprise won the runners-up cheque of £2000, which was awarded to Betsy Aidinyantz. She has developed a project with a commercial partner to produce an innovative new planter called Greenstack, which employs and trains disenfranchised people from the local Medway community.

 The judges also commended the eco friendly ideas from Vincent Read, whom they awarded a special prize of £500 to help him develop his ideas in more depth.

Student Enterprise Officer, Tracy Crowther says ‘Going through the process of committing your idea to paper, following the application template, having an opportunity to present ideas in front of a panel of expert judges is a great experience, and a very useful skill in the employability market.

It was great to have so many entrants this year – and we look forward to next year’s competition in 2012!’