The Enterprise Fund has been supporting enterprise and entrepreneurship since 2018, thanks to the University’s partnership with Santander Universities UK. The award, open to both students and recent graduates, provides entrepreneurs with the funds to transform their business ideas into a reality.
The last round of funding took place in November last year and four business ideas were successful in receiving the award. You can read more about these below:
Phoebe Baldwin – Fair to Look Fabulous
Phoebe (MSc Marketing student) was awarded £500 for her vegan and sustainable beauty brand, Fair to Look Fabulous (FTLF). The product range consists of 6 vegan false eyelashes and a vegan brow soap too, all of which are packaged in recyclable materials. As a new e-commerce brand, the Enterprise Fund will help Phoebe to market her product more widely across all channels. Phoebe will also take part in courses to increase her knowledge on digital marketing.
“Becoming an entrepreneur is not the normal or easy career path to take and as a student it is sometimes near enough impossible to kick start your idea, however, having support like this from Santander can make it all happen! Thank you for believing in me and Fair to Look Fabulous, I am excited to have you a part of the journey!”
Richard Nicolas Christian Schindler – FilmLink
Richard (Foundation to Health and Veterinary Studies student) was awarded £500 towards FilmLink, an online platform that connects two customer segments - filmmakers and clients. FilmLink is a database of film projects, paid jobs, filmmakers and their showreels, as well as a platform offering a community for filmmakers. Funding will be used to develop the MVP to bring FilmLink to a fully operational service.
“Thank you for the splendid opportunity to develop my project so that it can help future film creators.”
Claudia Fryer, Rhun Morris – Assisteco
Chemistry PhD students, Claudia and Rhun were successful in securing £500 towards their business idea Assisteco. Assisteco is dedicated to making companies more sustainable with their waste management. After witnessing the high volumes of waste produced in laboratories, Claudia and Rhun created Assisteco to make recycling more accessible to labs. The funding will be used for software development.
“We would like to thank Santander for awarding us the Enterprise Fund which will help us to kickstart our business. We are also grateful for all the advice and feedback which has been extremely helpful when planning our business.”
Maxwell David Goddard - Rum Riddimz Run
Maxwell (BA Philosophy and History with a year in China, 2020) and his business partner Joe were awarded £500 towards their student-led events business Rum Riddimz Run. Rum Riddimz Run was established three years ago to celebrate the pairs’ passion for sound system culture and underground genres. Although many of their events this year had been cancelled due to the pandemic, the team worked hard to diversify their income by creating brand merchandise. The funding will help the team to promote and distribute their first batch of merchendise products. The team have also taken this time to pursue other projects such as workshops, recuring radio slots and funding charity gigs.
“Rum Riddimz Run has already achieved so much for young people and students in Liverpool, and we can now continue to give so much more to give in the coming years. It will also give us the opportunity and confidence to pursue other side projects such as workshops, securing radio slots, tuition for music production, and funding charity gigs. Thank you so much for your support!”
Thanks to the support of Santander, a total of 26 business ideas have received start-up funding through the Enterprise Fund. If you would like to find out more, please click here.