Joe Levi, founder of Student Money Saver, speaks to the Boar

During this tough financial time, a good-old-fashioned money-off voucher can be a godsend for the measly student budget. Whilst there are many places to go online to find discounts for a whole variety of student essentials, it is quite rare to find a website which has them all collected in one place. Joe Levi, a recent graduate from the University of Manchester, hopes to change all that with his brand new website Student Money Saver. He spoke to Money Editor, Sam Maule, about his new website.

**Firstly, what is Student Money Saver and how can it help save students money?
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Student Money Saver is a free and impartial website created by students for students. We provide the latest discounts, honest advice on how to save money, and we allow students to search, compare and save in every area of student life.

**So why should people use Student Money Saver over other money saving websites?
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Because Student Money Saver is created by students for students, all the advice and deals have been researched from the perspective of a student and can be trusted. We have worked really hard to provide what we believe is the ultimate money saving resource for students.

**When you say you compare prices, what does this cover?
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We currently compare prices on all your main bills. This includes broadband, gas and electricity bills, mobile phone contracts and insurance. From February, we will soon be helping students compare prices for all their travel expenses, including train tickets, buses, coaches, flights, package holidays and more. Additionally, we will help students find the best deals on all their main shopping items, including food, textbooks, university essentials, laptops and more.

**That sounds great, how much do you think you could save the average student?
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We believe that we could save the average student around £1,500 per year if they used all our price comparisons and followed our advice.

**Turning now to your journey with Student Money Saver, how did you come up with the idea?
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The idea came when I started Manchester University in 2007. Upon arriving at university, I realised that it was quite daunting being financially independent for the first time and very difficult budgeting my money. I also noticed that there was no obvious resource that could assist with this issue. I looked online for help and didn’t find much. I then thought it would be really beneficial to have a website aimed at students helping them save and manage their money.

**How did you turn your idea into a reality? Did you have any previous experience creating websites?
**
I didn’t have any experience creating websites but I have always been entrepreneurial. At primary school, I used to sell wholesale goods outside my house to passersby and had a successful eBay business throughout secondary school. Additionally, I had arranged several charity events including football tournaments and parties during my school years, so I had a fair amount of business experience when I thought of the idea for Student Money Saver. This seemed like a natural progression.

I began by asking my friends what they thought of the idea and they all loved it, so I just went for it. I arranged a meeting with the writers from the Manchester student union newspaper and encouraged many of them to join me in writing money saving advice on a blog I had set up. After much work, we launched the blog in my final year at university and it proved to be a big hit amongst students. Since then, we have raised some angel investment and created a much more advanced version of the site, and now have a team of two full time employees and two part time ones.

**How did you go about recruiting your team?
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There have been two stages of recruitment. At university, I got in touch with everyone who wrote for the Mancunian (university paper). I then appointed an editor and got a great team together who wrote loads of great articles, while I took care of the website and the marketing.

We launched the basic blog version of the site in my last year at university, but we have really taken off since we have raised investment and the new site was built. We also now have a fantastic full time team, who I recruited by posting adverts on student job boards. We have a full time editor, Nicola Onyema (a recent graduate from King’s College) and a head of marketing, Ben Wakeham (a recent graduate from Nottingham University). Plus, we have part time employees from various universities across the country including a team of 15 writers.

**What advice would you have for other students who have a great idea but don’t know how to get it off the ground?
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I would say that there is no hiding the fact that it is very challenging starting your own business straight after university, the main issues being a lack of experience and difficulty in raising finances.

However, if you have a good idea and a lot of determination and enthusiasm, then there is no reason you can’t get your idea off the ground. Just make sure you have a good team around you and have the necessary finances in place before you start.

**Thanks for speaking to us, Joe.
**
Student Money Saver’s website is [www.studentmoneysaver.com](http://www.studentmoneysaver.com) and their Facebook page can be found at [facebook.com/studentmoneysaver](http://www.facebook.com/studentmoneysaver). Anyone interested in writing for the website can get in touch with Joe by emailing joe@studentmoneysaver.com.