Enterprising duo scoop top award
Posted on 28 April 2008
Luke, 25, and his business partner, University of East Anglia student, Luke Jefferson, 28, took advantage of a unique programme offered by the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) to launch their business, Scratchface.
They were voted the UK’s No.1 Unipreneurs by a specially invited audience of 200 guests, at the BAFTA Theatre in London. They won £20,000 for their business to market a software product, designed by Luke Jefferson, to help the 2.5 million people in the UK affected by colourblindness.
The Fellowship has raised my expectations, goals and aspirations and given me the tools to go out and achieve those goals
Luke Walsh
They beat four other contenders to walk away with the cash after being grilled live on-stage by a panel of celebrity experts, including entrepreneur Peter Jones, the star of BBC TV’s Dragon’s Den, who decided that their company had the greatest potential.
The business partners are both NCGE Flying Start Global Fellows, having taken part in 2007 in a 12 month programme which takes the best entrepreneurial talent in science, engineering or technology from UK universities and links them with the entrepreneurial environment in America.
The purpose of the Global Fellowship is to encourage UK graduates to develop high impact businesses. Each year the Global Fellows cohort spends six months in the UK working with their sponsor university to develop their business idea. They then spend six months in the US as Kauffman Global Scholars where they work with top entrepreneurial universities and intern at leading innovative companies like Google, Cisco and Sprint.
Luke Walsh, a student in the Department of Electronics at York, said: "The Fellowship has raised my expectations, goals and aspirations and given me the tools to go out and achieve those goals.
"It has given me the confidence to go out there and do it, and I have learned that having a good idea is only the start of it, it’s the execution of that idea which is critical."
Luke Jefferson added: "The Fellowship was our defining moment, and now winning Unipreneurs has given us a fantastic boost to our business.
Ian Robertson, Chief Executive of the Government-backed NCGE commented: "NCGE helps students to realise their entrepreneurial potential and the Fellowship is a fantastic opportunity to get science, engineering and technology business ideas off the ground."
Computer Science student, Jefferson, took a holiday internship working as a programmer for a graphic design company and realised computers failed to take into account the problems of people with impaired colour vision, or colour ‘blindness’.
Restarting his PhD to allow him to work on the necessary technology, he developed a software application that allows colourblind people to adapt their computer displays to suit their various needs, enabling them to access colour coded data, graphics and charts.
Now finalising work on his thesis, Jefferson has joined forces with Luke Walsh, and they are developing two innovative business initiatives that will include making colourblind accessibility software available on-line.
NCGE is now recruiting for the 2009 Fellowship, and students, graduates and postgraduates have until 9 May to apply through their university. It is open to entrepreneurial students who have excelled in engineering, science or technology and who have a product concept. Application forms and further details can be found on line at: http://www.flyingstart-ncge.com/public/global_scholars/gs_home.html.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The Flying Start Global Fellowship is the UK part of a 12 month programme made possible by collaboration between the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, UK and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri, US.
- The National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship was launched by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown in 2005. The NCGE aims to increase the number of sustainable graduate start ups and to increase the numbers of graduates giving thought to setting up a business in all its forms. Flying Start is the part of the NCGE that makes it happen; supporting and developing graduate start ups from ideas to implementation.
- The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, the Kauffman Foundation is the 26th largest foundation in the United States. With an asset base of approximately 2 billion dollars it is the biggest entrepreneurship foundation in the world. It spends about 90 million dollars of endowment income per year on grants, programs, and related expenses to foster "a society of economically independent individuals who are engaged citizens, contributing to the improvement of their communities."
- HSBC Unipreneurs is a new £20,000 business award that aims to encourage a new generation of young business creators. The Awards are government-backed and sponsored by HSBC Bank, presented in association with the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) and is therefore connected with all 168 UK universities.
- The students’ business, ‘Scratchface’ is currently based in the University of York’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Enterprise (CETLE). CETLE provides student businesses with desk space and IT facilities to launch their enterprises alongside their studies. The Higher Education Funding Council awarded the University of York, along with its White Rose Partners at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, a CETLE in Enterprise in 2005 in recognition of their innovative work in embedding enterprise across the student curriculum. In addition to providing space for their business, the University has also supported Luke with funding from its student Proof of Concept Fund. Using monies from the Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward, students can apply for small grants to demonstrate the market readiness of their business ideas.
Contact details
David Garner
Senior Press OfficerTel: ++ 44 (0)1904 432153
Kate Smith
Tel: ++ 44 (0)1295 661250