21 November 2006
Sheffield students celebrated at business awards
Business-minded students from the University of Sheffield have had their achievements recognised at this year´s White Rose Business Awards, winning £9,000 in total to invest in their companies.
Zhou Fang and Qui Liu, both engineering graduates from the University of Sheffield, were awarded the top prize of £7,000 for their business, selling hair extensions online. Whesh.com, which was established in 2004, works with one of the largest hair products factories in China, to provide customers with high-quality wigs, hair extensions and accessories.
Qui Liu said: "This competition has really helped our business grow. The support and advice we received through the course of the competition has really got us underway in the world of business."
Sheffield students George Cane, a graduate in Japanese, and Emma Brealey, a graduate in Japanese and Management, won a runners-up prize of £2,000 to invest in their business, which offers UK-based golfing tours to the Japanese market.
Both teams of winners will receive business mentoring and support from the Sheffield Technology Parks, South Yorkshire's leading provider of high-quality support to new and fast-growing technology businesses.
The annual competition involves students and alumni from the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York. Cheques totalling £20,000 were shared between two overall winners and three runners-up whose ideas had been considered by an expert panel to show the most potential.
Other winners included joint-winner Pauline Harding, who won £7000, and George Hudson, who won £2,000, both from the University of York. Peter Mills from the University of Leeds also received £2,000.
All the winners received their prizes at the opening of the University of Leeds White Rose Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching in Enterprise (CETLE). The centre, which was set up with funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), offers space for students to work on their business ideas and innovations, using video-conferencing facilities to form links with other institutions and share best practice. A similar centre is to be opened in Sheffield in March 2007.
Elizabeth Gillott, Enterprise Zone Manager at CETLE, said: "The business planning competition is a great way for students to develop their ideas into an operating business. The cash prize is a great boost for any new enterprise and I encourage all students and alumni since 2002 to get involved and submit a business plan for the 2007 awards."
Anyone wishing to enter this year´s business plan competition can visit the White Rose Centre for Enterprise website www.wrce.org.uk or contact Elizabeth Gillott on e.gillott@sheffield.ac.uk.
Notes for Editors: White Rose is a strategic partnership between the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York, and is widely acknowledged to be the most successful collaboration of its kind in the UK. Since it was formed in 1997 it has generated more than £60M of additional funding for the three institutions. To find out more about the White Rose University Consortium, visit www.whiterose.ac.uk.
More information about the White Rose CETLE is online at www.wrcetle.ac.uk.
For further information please contact: The University of Sheffield press office on 0114 222 1046, or email mediateam@sheffield.ac.uk
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