Published: 22 January 2021
We’re delighted to announce that three University of Sunderland in London students reached the shortlisting stage of the NatWest Global Entrepreneurship Week 10K challenge (#GEW10K).
Taking place in the second half of November 2020, #GEW10K saw 700 contestants compete against each other to see who could give the best 60-second business pitch for a £10,000 prize.
From the original participants, only 128 applicants were left - three of whom came from the University of Sunderland in London student community.
The shortlisted participants were tasked with delivering a showstopping demonstration of their ideas to experts from the NatWest team.
Get to know the life-changing student ideas
Emeka Nelson
Emeka pitched his auto parts business, looking to grow his idea from a UK-based company to an international giant with ties to Nigeria and other emerging markets.
Emeka, MSc International Business Management, said, “It wasn’t easy but I’m proud I managed to achieve what I did. I came away from the event excited and driven to improve and do even better in the future.”
Habibe Zyulkyarova
Habibe took a healthy stance with his idea for an urban beach company supporting the wellbeing of city-dwellers, making the built environment both sustainable and more attractive to live in.
Michael Dlamini
Michael wants to transform the lives of underprivileged children through his music charity.
During the event, our students took part in a pitching workshop delivered by an experienced mentor from the NatWest Enterprise Development team.
They learned about the power of the pitch for getting your ideas across and convincing potential investors to back you.
The students also benefited from training on how to structure, write and deliver an excellent pitch, helping them to stand out from the crowd in their future careers as entrepreneurs.
Joshua Winfield, National Business Builder Manager at NatWest said, “The standard of pitches across the board was incredibly high. The NatWest team are amazed by the achievement of the students in reaching this stage.”
The event was organised in collaboration with Lecturer in Postgraduate Business, Muhammed Azam, who acted as mentor for the three students as they developed their pitches.
Muhammad Azam, Lecturer in Postgraduate Business "I was extremely pleased and delighted by the hard work and enthusiasm of the Emeke, Habibe and Michael. Each of their pitches demonstrated their ability and understanding of key business concepts and I'm sure we'll see great things from them in the future. It's also been wonderful working with the NatWest Entrepreneurship Development team, who's efforts have provided an exciting opportunity for our students.”
Although not moving on to the next round of the competition, Emeka, Habibe and Michael have achieved something incredible with their hard work and dedication.
We look forward to watching their future entrepreneurial careers with interest and delight.
To find out more about business degrees at the University of Sunderland in London, visit our course pages.
Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts using #WeAreSunLon for more opportunities like this.