Four Loughborough College Higher Education students have won big at this year’s Young Enterprise Start Up Finals, inspiring high-profile guests such as Anne, Princess Royal, and scooping five of the ten available awards, including the Young Enterprise UK Start Up title for the fourth year in a row.
Team Tiaki, consisting of students Rosanna Collis, Dylan Bamford, and Samuel Wilson brought back four of the ten accolades, winning prestigious titles for Best Presentation, Export Award, Digital Marketing, and Best Company. The ambitious team of three will now go on to represent the UK at the renowned Young Enterprise European Finals, held in Istanbul in July.
HE Sports and Exercise Management learner Rosanna explained, “We created protective inserts for women in sports. It’s a very under-researched area, and we want to encourage the conversation about breast health and end the taboo.
“Men’s protective equipment is commonplace in sport, but women are overlooked. As a rugby player myself, I know what a relevant issue it is. Now we’ve done our research, we know what needs to be done to further support women in sports”.
Looking to stand out from the crowd of exciting future businesses was vital, as fifteen student teams from across the country competed at the final, held at Salford Business School.
After making a great impression on the judges, Team Tiaki was selected as one of the outstanding businesses to meet with Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal to discuss their businesses. As a keen sportsperson and a patron of dozens of sporting charities, including Gloucestershire Rugby Football Club, the Princess Royal was an invaluable figure to share their business plans with.
Rosanna continued, “Meeting the Princess Royal was amazing. She was so down to earth, and really interested in our concept, as a sportswoman and patron of several engineering charities and organisations.
“Princess Anne is a former Olympic equestrian and is still a keen horse rider, we were excited to share with her that some of the materials in our product are also used in horse-riding.”
The Princess Royal has previous ties with the College, having met with three female alumni of engineering in 2018. A patron of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), Princess Anne is keen to champion women in STEM careers.
With four wins already secured for the College, a fifth highly deserved title, the Outstanding UK Start Up Student of the Year was awarded to HE Sport learner Ryan Deamer. A member of the College’s Enhance team, the judges summarised his award citing his key attributes of leadership, inclusivity, resilience, and excellent self-awareness.
HE Management lead Iqbal Ullah expressed his excitement, sharing, “I am absolutely thrilled for the winning team, they stood out as potential contenders from the moment they shared their idea back in October 2022. Rosanna, Samuel, and Dylan are a fantastic team and were fully engaged in the module from day one.
“Equally, I am so proud of all students who took part. All our finalists at the national event were fantastic. The way they conducted themselves, communicated with the judging panel, and presented in front of an audience of over 200 people was nothing short of incredible.
With these wins, we now have four national Young Enterprise titles, and the award of Outstanding Student of the Year for Ryan Deamer means we have won this award on five occasions.”
Looking forward, Team Tiaki have great plans, and are dreaming big.
“We’re so excited for Istanbul! We spoke to the UK’s representatives from last year’s European competition, and they gave us some great advice,” Rosanna says. “At the final in Salford, we met with some incredible people with amazing backgrounds. We spoke to potential investors so hopefully it won’t be long before we can make Tiaki a reality.”
Congratulations to all the nominees and winners from the College, and we wish the best of luck to Team Tiaki for the European final in Turkey later this year!