Loughborough College has scooped a trio of top awards at the 2019 national finals of the Young Enterprise UK Start Up Competition.
Two fledgling businesses set up by degree students from the College were selected to compete against nine other finalists from across the country before being presented with three of the six prestigious team titles.
SecureSport’s Josh Boon, Roseanna McGuckian, Charlotte Pearce and Zoe Jefferies took the Best Presentation Award – the third year in a row that it had gone to Loughborough College.
Kaled Hussain, Shiper Ahmed and Abdul-Samad Kabir were meanwhile named overall winners not only for Digital Excellence but also for Best Pitch Deck, or business plan, scoring a competition record 70 out of 85. SecureSport took the category’s second place spot.
With a mission to help organisations within the food industry to achieve and maintain high quality food safety standards, iHygiene streamlined the current paper-based system into a digital app-based process.
Securesport created the first lockable, sustainable swim bag. With swimming Britain’s most popular sport and the team’s market research showing that almost three quarters of swimmers having experienced items being taken from their bag, SecureSport’s product is aimed at swimmers of all levels to prevent theft and is made from 100% recycled polyester – the only sustainable mesh swim bag on the market.
“For our two teams to pick up three of the six team awards at the Young Enterprise UK national final was fantastic … I guess we must be doing something right,” said Iqbal Ullah, who manages the management degree- level courses at Loughborough College. “But none of it would be possible without our fabulous, innovative undergraduate students, the tireless support we receive from our volunteer mentors and Annabell Armes of Young Enterprise.
“We really can be proud of the calibre of students representing Loughborough College on the national stage. The level of competition was incredibly high, so for iHygiene to scoop two awards – one of them with a competition record score – and for SecureSport to take the best overall presentation, making it three years in a row that the College has won it, was truly outstanding.
“Much of the credit for this run of presentation achievement has to go to Neelum Savania for her work with all the teams, developing their skills.”
“So no pressure for me next year!” added Neelum, higher education lead employability coordinator at Loughborough College. “SecureSport and IHygiene faced some extremely high quality competition to triumph with three prestigious national awards.
“These teams are a huge inspiration to all of our students. I am so proud of the dedication and determination displayed by everyone who has competed this year. It’s been an absolute pleasure to support them all.”
As part of the Young Enterprise programme, student teams spent the academic year setting up and running a real business or social enterprise, from deciding the company name and product to creating a business plan, managing their finances and selling their products.
This year’s final was held at Chessington World of Adventures in Greater London and saw Loughborough College go head to head with Liverpool Hope University, the University of Chester, the University of Bolton, Kingston University, Ulster University, Manchester Met, New College Durham and Grimsby Institute.
Pictured: Loughborough College’s iHygiene and SecureSport scoop a trio of top awards at the 2019 Young Enterprise UK Start Up competition national finals