A young farmer who introduced a new crop to the UK was one of several students to have won a new 'business with highest growth potential ' competition held by the University of Nottingham and backed by a leading bank and Nottingham City Council.
Stephen Jones took first prize of £10,000 with his business plan for becoming the UK’s only commercial producer of oca tubers.
The competition, aimed specifically at postgraduates, boasted a total prize fund of £75,000. In all, £20,000 was provided by sponsor Santander Universities.
Otherprize winners included a team of crop biotechnology graduates detecting foodborne diseases, a university student recruitment company, and a team who had developed a solar-powered cooker.
The £75,000 postgraduate venture challenge was open to current postgraduate students from across The University of Nottingham, plus recent graduates.
More than 150 students took part, either as individuals or as a team, with the participants being whittled down to ten finalists to take part in the investment pitch day held on 27 August.
The challenge, run by Nottingham University Business School’s Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, featured a series of workshops in the run up to the pitching final, where participants were coached on developing a business plan and how to pitch for investment.
The final of the competition saw participants pitching their business ideas to a panel of judges who selected six teams to win the top cash prizes to enable them to further progress their business. All ten finalists won paid mentoring.
Originating from South America, oca is an edible potato-like tuber which is rapidly growing in popularity in the Western world.
Jones said: “I'm really pleased to be selected to receive such a generous award for my business idea from Santander Universities. The prize money will be used to set up the UK’s first commercial oca crop on my family’s farm in Shropshire and will help me to drive my business development forward at a faster rate than I would have otherwise been able to achieve.”
Simon Bray, a director at Santander Universities UK said: “We have been really impressed with the outstanding quality of the business plans and ideas presented during the competition. There is a wealth of talent at The University of Nottingham and at Santander Universities we are proud to be contributing to the development of a new generation of brilliant entrepreneurs who have the potential to become achieve great things not only in Nottinghamshire but also in the UK and abroad.”
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