Business Students Benefit From Working With FEO Members

Level 2 and Level 3 Business students at Hull College hosted a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style event  on Thursday 19th January, pitching their business ideas to local employers.

For Entrepreneurs Only (FEO) members Alex Wood (Commercial Director at RMC Digital Print), Alistair Needler (Former Managing Director at Needler), Chris Jacobsen (Owner, Slice Marketing), Rob Purfield (Principle Associate, RPAssociates), Graeme Pittaway (Managing Director at CE Pittaway & Sons) and Mark Titcombe (Managing Director at Yorkshire Media) were on hand to scrutinize the students’ proposals.

The quartet gave students a masterclass in entrepreneurship before discussing the elements involved in creating a product, marketing and budgeting - which tied in with the Marketing and Enterprise units both groups are currently studying - to allow the students to go away and create a product before presenting their ideas to the judging panel. The groups were judged on how realistic their proposals were before receiving feedback on how to ensure their ideas could be put together to succeed in the real world of business.

Congratulations to the winners of the event - Rowand Perryman, Izabela Szcryk, Dzastina Milevska and Klaudia Kolano - who developed an exciting idea to rival Hello Fresh, which was marketed towards a luxury band of consumers.

Adam Naylor, Business Tutor at Hull College, said: “The event was a huge success and showcased the talents and business minds of our students. I was proud of the attitude shown by all groups involved. Not only did they impress myself, but also the FEO members on the judging panel which they pitched their fantastic ideas to and I believe that they will have all gained and built on numerous key skills from the experience.

“I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the team at For Entrepreneurs Only for helping us with this project and Alex, Alistair, Chris, Rob, Graeme and Mark for giving up their time to be on the judging panel and supporting the development of our students.”