THE University of Strathclyde has awarded their funding prizes for start-up businesses in their annual entrepreneurship event.
The university’s Inspire100 event had companies by current and former students compete for prizes worth £10,000 to help kickstart and continue their businesses.
Students made three minute pitches to a panel of investors and entrepreneurs at Strathclyde student union in an attempt to win one of the two awards. One was for those currently part of the university’s Inspire: Accelerator programme and working towards finalising their businesses (the Accelerator prize), while the other was for those who had already been through the programme and were looking for investment (the Investor-ready prize).
The Accelerator prize went to Christopher Hoy for Paperflute, a sustainable product company to reduce the use of plastic. Hoy developed paper-based alternatives to children’s toys for his first product range – which impressed the judges.
Hoy said: “Inspire100 was a great event and the first time that I’d been able to get the product in front of people. Being able to showcase it in person made such a difference, and the event gave me a real confidence boost in terms of how people reacted to the product and the feedback from the judging panel.
“I’m looking to launch a KickStart campaign soon, so I’ll be putting the funds towards that – it really couldn’t have come at a better time for the business.”
The Investor-ready prize was awarded to David White’s sport and fitness goods company BGR Training. The company created the first portable “BGR” gym, and is in the process of creating sensor technology to bring the BGR into the world of AI coaching. The company recently won the business category in the Scottish EDGE competition.
White said: “After having sat in the audience for so many previous Inspire 100 events, it was great to finally have the opportunity to pitch to the strong network that it attracts.
“I am obviously thrilled to receive the funding prize money that will help me strengthen sales as I aim to grow the business, but I am equally thrilled with the connections I made during networking and the opportunities that could develop as a result.”
Pitches also came from tea and coffee company and fellow EDGE winner Caribbean Goods and software company CrackMap.
Director of innovation and industry at Strathclyde, Dr Olga Kozlova, said: “The role of Strathclyde Inspire is to support new generations of adventurous and bold entrepreneurs. For an economy, and indeed a society, to thrive, it needs exactly this type of entrepreneurially minded individuals and nurturing these companies is one of the major contributions we can make.
“We offer our congratulations to our winners, and to all the competitors, and we look forward to them continuing to flourish.”
