Four-figure prize for business win

Warwick Entrepreneurs brought Dragons’ Den to campus on Wednesday with the final of ‘Be Your Own Boss’ (BYOB), a competition awarding £1,500 to a budding entrepreneur to invest in their business idea.

Masters students Sebastian Schindler and another student, who wishes to keep his name private, were awarded the prize money ahead of 17 other applicants for their new business “Help Buddy”, a website exclusive to students where they can barter for services and items.

The runner-up team “Warwick Rent-a-Bed”, which tied with “Help Buddy” until the judges cast the deciding vote, received a £500 prize to invest in their project, which aims to provide air-beds for guests visiting Warwick campus.

The five finalist teams presented their business plan to the audience and a panel of judges consisting of Robert Pocknell, a lawyer for TomTom, web-developer Joel Gascoigne and business analyst Katie Wales. Apprentice candidate Raef Bjayou was purported to be on the judging panel, but was curiously absent, despite his appearance being mentioned in the Bubble and advertised by the BYOB coordinators.

This competition was not only about assisting the business ambitions of potential entrepreneurs. Saraj Datoo, a coordinator of BYOB, was keen to make clear that the event was an attempt to “showcase all home-grown talent, not just the entrepreneurial”. The evening featured performances from the acclaimed poet Joshua Bennett, who has performed for Barack Obama in the White House, and a piece from an amateur comedian, Mohamed Jawad Gulamhusein, self-styled as ‘MJ.’

BYOB is Warwick Entrepreneurs’ (WE) flagship event. The society is focused on the promotion of young business through events such as BYOB and Warwick Apprentice, providing a social background in which business skill and interest can be developed.

Other alumni of WE include the “UniExpress” as well as the 2008 BYOB winners “E-resistible”, whose online takeaway website incorporates over 450 websites and has full-time employees.

One student emphasised that it was generally the lack of capital which prevents many business ideas from taking off in a similar successful fashion. However, he also mentioned that this year’s winner Asad Iqbal claims that “the message that should be delivered is that entrepreneurship is about hard work, and with hard work, success can come without having won any competitions”.