Postgrads get Enterprising with 'UGS Talks'

Taking place in the recently-renovated Exchange building in Centenary Square, ‘UGS Talks’ had its second event of 2022 at the end of March. This time around, we heard from current and alumni UoB postgrads who have set up their own businesses, who told us about the highs and lows of start-up life, what inspired them, and how developing entrepreneurial skills in and outside of a business context can support research and a host of other industries.

Our speakers included former PGT student Dave Scotford, whose social enterprise Team Norse Thunder uses esports and gaming to tackle social isolation and loneliness in young people. John Sewell set up Cosimo in 2018 after finishing his Art History MA at the University of Birmingham: Cosimo is an online art-selling platform that supports artists with a no-commission model. Finally, we heard from two current PhD researchers Frankie Lewns and Paris Alexandros Lalousis, who met while completing the Virtual Consultancy Challenge at Birmingham in 2020. Their company, Bloomwise, is a mental health consultancy focussed on workplace wellbeing.

All of our featured businesses receive support from UoB Elevate which supports UoB students and Graduates with mentoring, working space in the Exchange, funding and more.

Our audience of postgraduates were inspired by our speakers’ fascinating insights into start-up life, chatting to them about their businesses over refreshments after the talk, and making new connections with each other.

If you are feeling inspired to explore and hone your entrepreneurship skills at UoB, there are plenty of ways to get involved:

• PG Skills: Monthly  online workshops about employability skills, with external speakers from a range of industries.
• Masters Consultancy Challenge: the chance for PGTs to work on real-world business problems with an employer, developing  pitching, teamwork, commercial awareness, and analytical thinking skills. Registration is open!
• Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School: the chance for PGRs to create an innovative business solution to solve a real life strategy challenge being faced by the industry partner. Registration is open!
• B-Enterprising supports UoB students in developing entrepreneurial skills with development opportunities and training. We recommend their blog, which has lots of interesting stories of UoB students setting up businesses before and after they graduated.

   You can learn more about UGS Talks and future UGS Talks events here.