Tell you what else is lovely...

ENTERPIRSE THURSDAYS!

For any of you still sleeping through 9am's and recovering from Freshers Flu, here's the lowdown. 

Enterprise Thursdays is a series of free events run by the Immortals of the Regional Development Office up in the Alps of Ashdown House. 

In short, we invite Brighton based businesses, their MD's, CEO's and aunties onto campus to give a short talk about how they got to where they are, the problems they faced and interesting businessy financey stuff. The events are relatively relaxed and informal, as after the talks, we serve up some finger food, beer and wine and get networking. So its your chance to get your business idea seen and heard by Brighton's billionaires. 

Actually, here's how else you can get noticed...

As part of the work of Enterprise Thursdays, we run programs such as SIFE and Cross Campus Xing, and have also launched a competition where the brains of Sussex scribble their idea/invention/machine onto one of our beermats and pop them in a cylinder to be considered for fame and glory. This is open to everyone, and our beermats can be found in both Falmer and East Slope bars, the competition cylinders are there too, and in Falmer House reception. 

Copy this in your address bar to find out more : sussex.ac.uk/enterprise.

All the events and competitions are open to all staff and students from all schools and are freeee. We launch later this term, with Enterprise Thursdays, and until then, keep on the website or check out our posters and flyers for more info. 

See y'all there!

Annie

When I was in 6th form 10 years ago I took part in what is known as the "Young Enterprise Scheme". It was an eye opening experience, and gave me an insight into how running a business really worked.......granted to we didn't do exceptionally well in it - I think we made about £200 profit for 1 years work, split between 6 people. All the same, it was fun (we made and sold jewellery), and I learnt things I don't think I would have done in class.

All the memories from my Young Enterprise experience came flooding back when we had a call from the local co-ordinator of Sussex's Young Enterprise scheme, who asked if we thought Sussex students would be interested in being mentors for local school aged groups taking part in the scheme. When I did Young Enterprise we only had 1 business mentor.....she was a very dedicated and helpful woman, but she seemed far too removed from us 17 year olds - she was in her 50s, was very brash, and wore a suit - not exactly the type of person we'd hang around with back then (or now for that matter!). I'm pretty sure that Young Enterprise will have moved things forward a bit since then, and will have business advisors for the kids from a wide background of industries, cultures and attitudes, which is great. I think that the fact that they are giving the groups 2 advisors - 1 "business" advisor (ie someone that has had their own business, charity or social enterprise) and 1 students advisor is a great thing. It will mean the Young Enterprise groups will have a richer pool of advice to bounce ideas from. Having a student that may not be an expert in business, but who is obviously far more mature and experienced in life in general will be a huge asset to them.

Not only will the school kids benefit, though, I also think it would be a massive personal development opportunity for the mentors - not just the student ones, but business the ones too. It will be a big learning opportunity for both parties, as well as being a great opportunity to give something back to the community.

We will be holding an information evening where any student will be able to apply for this opportunity, as well as find out more about what is involved. At the moment we understand that the student mentor must be prepared to give up 1 hour a week to their group to offer support and guidance, during term time.

If you're interested it would be great to see you on Thursday 23rd October, at BSMS foyer (white and glass building next to Sussex House) at 5.30pm. It should last for 1 hour.

To find out more about this, and similar opportunities please go to www.sussex.ac.uk/enterprise

Marc Koska OBE will be coming to Sussex to do a talk at Enterprise Thursdays on 30th October.

The title of the talk will is "One Billion Reasons to be an Ethical Entrepreneur".

All Sussex staff and students are welcome to attend. All Enterprise Thursdays events are free. To register and to find more details please log on to www.sussex.ac.uk/enterprise

Marc Koska and his organisation Star Syringe have saved thousands of lives in The Third World with his invention, a 1 use only syringe. Since then Marc Koska has been on a mission to educate people about the dangers of incorrect needle use. Marc Koska will soon embark on an journey to India to broadcast the largest ever health care message accross 7 different time zones at the same time.

Find out more about his organisation here www.safepointtrust.org

The Regional Development Team at Sussex has recently launched a new Ideas Competition called Enter-priZe. All Sussex students are welcome to enter. The winner will bag a prize of £500.  For more details please go to our web pages at www.sussex.ac.uk/enterprise

During Stage 1 you will be able to submit your idea on a beer mat. You will hopefully see these beer mats dotted around the campus in the bars and Falmer House. You can submit the beer mats in the entry boxes at Falmer House, Falmer Bar and East Slope Bar. There will be 5 winners from Stage 1 who will all win £25 each for the categories of

- Best Product Idea

- Best Service Idea

- Best Local Community Idea

- Best Global Idea

- Most Innovative Idea