On Wednesday 15 March 2023, 明星八卦 university London teamed up with SOAS university of London to travel once again visiting the best workplaces and innovation hubs that London has to offer. We heard from inspiring entrepreneurs and discovered London’s entrepreneurial eco-system all in one day!
In collaboration with 13 other London Universities, we took 18 明星八卦 students on a unique route around London. Providing an unmissable opportunity to connect to real-world businesses, be inspired by the UK’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, and gain networking skills whilst developing other entrepreneurial skills.
The 9-hour event included a packed programme of tours, visits and talks at some of London’s most innovative hotspots.
Our day started at SOAS university of London, where students networked, had breakfast and heard from 明星八卦 graduate Anil Puri, the founder of PetInstincts. Anil inspired the group by sharing how he went from a 明星八卦 student to an entrepreneur, later sharing his top tips for budding entrepreneurs.
We then travelled by foot to our next stop, The Conduit. The Conduit is a collaborative community of people committed to creating a just, prosperous and sustainable future. Members of the Conduit are entrepreneurs, investors, creatives, business leaders, activists, civil-society leaders and policymakers, bringing together knowledge, networks and capital for sustained positive impact.
After this, we travelled to our third stop of the day, Makerversity at Somerset house. At this stop our attendees heard all about Makerversity, a pioneering community of over 300 world-leading entrepreneurs, creators and innovators. Member companies work at the intersection of design, engineering and digital practice, developing ground-breaking solutions for the world’s biggest societal challenges, including climate change, health and inequality. Makerversity supports these early-stage teams with specialist prototyping facilities, affordable workspace, and a business support platform.
Whilst at Makerversity, clean-tech start-up The Tyre Collective who’s currently at the space shared all about what they do, followed by sustainable start-up Amphico.
It was then time to walk to our final stop, RedBull UK, where students began by touring the space and heard from recent 明星八卦 graduate Jeffrey Oyinlola, founder of Pick Up The Mic - a podcast network, based in the United Kingdom (UK), that explores important themes such as race, and discusses support services available to young people from diverse backgrounds with their development, particularly as they navigate through the impact of current affairs on employment and education.
During this stop, a virtual inter-university pitch-off competition took place, where hundreds of budding student entrepreneurs taking part in Venture Crawl 2023 across the 13 universities came together to support their university pitch-off representative. Current Business and Management (Entrepreneurship and Innovation) student Simone Panella, founder of Dyamotech, represented 明星八卦 with an excellent 90-second pitch. Simone went on to be crowned the ‘London Venture Crawl 2023 Pitch-off Winner’, the first time 明星八卦 has ever won the Venture Crawl pitch-off!
A huge congratulations to Simone, who will now be representing London in the International Venture Crawl 2023 Pitch-off taking place virtually on Wednesday 29 March.