How you can get involved in enterprise

Develop skills, networks and ideas

Improve your chances of gaining your ideal job. Take a risk on something new. Choose life choose a job.

Explore Opportunities Generate Ideas Develop Skills  

  • B-Enterprising Online learning - Develop enterprise skills from home by accessing our Start-Up Canvas resource.
  • B-Enterprising events - Develop your intrapreneurial skills to help your future career by attending one of our events.
  • Enterprising competitions - Enter an enterprise competition to create positive change and find opportunities to win prizes.
  • Future of Work - What does the future of work look like? This workshop series looks ahead featuring forward thinking employers.
  • Social Action - Take social action and get involved with a social enterprises across Birmingham. 

Make it real - take action on your ideas

Get involved with Start-Up or Freelance.

Recommended to help you create a start-up or freelance:

  • Business Start-Up Appointment - Talk to our friendly staff about your business idea and get help taking it forward. We have Skype and Zoom calls available for remote 1-2-1 start-up advice.
  • Freelance Hub (on canvas) - Profit from your passion and get into freelancing.
  • Get Funding - Apply for £500 funding to reimburse your start-up costs.
  • Global Entrepreneurship Week - Every November, we celebrate innovation, creativity and people who make things happen with a series of events at the University of Birmingham
  • Impact Internships - Work for a start-up or social enterprise and get paid for it.
  • Start-Up society - Get involved with our society members through networking, speaker events and competitions.
  • Start-Up Visa - Start your business in the UK after you graduate (for non-UK residents).
  • The Exchange Incubator - Find out about UoB Elevate. The new exciting start-up incubator programme based at The Exchange in Birmingham City Centre.

Benefits of being enterprising

Being enterprising gives you a strong 'can-do' mind-set and makes you capable to handle anything that's thrown your way. Our world is becoming increasingly unpredictable and is changing quickly. Technological advances, globalisation, population rises, climate change, political and social unrest. By being enterprising, and by applying your knowledge and wider skills gained at Birmingham, you will develop skills in adaptability and resilience, skills which will help you in our ever changing economy. 

Even if you’re not planning on setting up your own business, getting involved in enterprising activities is a great way to boost your CV, gain new skills and meet new people. These are skills that can be transferred to your studies, your future employment and your daily life.

Enterprising skills

The list below gives you an idea on the breadth of skills, attributes and behaviours which are linked to enterprise. How many of those can you relate to? Would you be able to confidently give examples of those during a job interview?  

Being enterprising is highly valued by employers. You may have noticed that interview processes are increasingly focusing on candidates' personalities. No longer are they purely interested in your skills and competences to do the job. Instead, would you fit into their organisation? What did you do over the summer? And what could this imply about you?

Skills, attributes and behaviours

Skills: 

  • Intuitive decision making with limited information
  • Coping with uncertainty and complexity
  • Building know-how and trusting relationships
  • Creative approach to problem solving
  • Negotiation capacity
  • Selling/pursuasive
  • Sense of belief in self

Attributes:

  • Strong sense of independance
  • Builds own know-how and trust relationships
  • Commitment to see things through
  • Sense of ownership over problems/actions

Behaviours:

  • Seems and takes opportunities
  • Takes iniative
  • Builds and develops networks
  • Assess and takes risks
  • Holistic management of situations
  • Thinks strategically

Contact the B-Enterprising team

The B-Enterprising Team at Birmingham provides curricular enterprise, extra-curricular enterprise and Start-Up support across all of the University’s five colleges. Enterprise is having ideas and making things happen. We are all enterprising; students, academics, entrepreneurs, businesses, employers, societies - all you need is motivation; we’ll help you with the rest.

Find out more about the B-Enterprising Team here or contact us by emailing benterprising@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

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