Lion's Den Challenge Start -Up Competition Awards Ceremony
As the Entrepreneurship Institute (Entrepreneurship@King’s) celebrates its one year anniversary, we take a look at all of its successes in the past year and what to expect in the upcoming year. Since Entrepreneurship@King’s was established a year ago, it has gone from strength to strength, reflected through its various outreach activities and outstanding achievements.
The awards ceremony for Entrepreneurship@King’s’ Lion’s Den Challenge Start-up Competition took place last week in the House of Lords. The Lion’s Den Challenge is an initiative which offers people from the King's community an opportunity to validate & grow their idea and business. In the lead up to the start-up competition there were several business workshops and mentorship opportunities available. The competition has been more popular than ever and this year, Entrepreneurship@King’s received a record number of applications. Overall, there were six awards available, totalling £11,000 in prize money.
The ceremony was hosted by Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences). The ceremony was also attended by Margaret Mountford, former judge on the BBC’s The Apprentice, who presented the awards to the winners; Deborah Bull, Assistant Principal (Culture & Engagement), who presented the Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship Award; Professor Sir Robert Lechler, Vice-Principal (Health), who presented the Health Tech Innovation Award; and Agostino Stilli, winner of Best Business and Best Pitch, Lion’s Den Challenge 2014-15, and current King’s student, who presented the award for Best Pitch
During the ceremony Professor Evelyn Welch, said: ‘King’s College London was founded in 1829, it may seem on the outside like a very traditional institution, but underneath beats the heart of a true challenger. You (the applicants) represent the entrepreneurial spirit that has guided King's for nearly 200 years.’
Ross Lindgren, winner of Best Pitch, said: ‘Looking at the panel, they're very respected people in their fields. For me, the opportunity to workshop your idea with the goal of impressing those people really allows you to take a greater look at your own ideas, strengthen them up and make them as good as they can be.’
Aside from the Lion’s Den Challenge, Entrepreneurship@King’s unveiled the first edition of its magazine, KSEI, with the support of world-leading entrepreneurs including Sir Richard Branson. The magazine featured interviews conducted by King’s students and alumni, with high-profile business owners including Richard Reed, Co-founder of Innocent Smoothies; Ariel Eckstein, MD of LinkedIn EMEA; Cynthia Carol, non-executive director at BP; and Nick Robertson, founder of ASOS. The magazine also features interviews with King’s entrepreneurs (both students and alumni), and articles written by King’s students, including Dr Cosima Gretton, and Mantas Gribulis, the president and founder of the King’s robotics society.
Through the Enterprise Connect series, Entrepreneurship@King’s has inspired over 5,000 (since it began in 2013) attendees to network, make connections with other like-minded entrepreneurs and launch their own start-ups. The last few series had successful speakers from the business world including James Caan OBE; Kevin Roberts CNZM, Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi; Jaqueline Gold CBE, CEO of Ann Summers; Sol Campbell, former England footballer; Craig Donaldson, CEO of Metro Bank; and Ashish J. Thakkar, Africa’s youngest billionaire, all of whom shared their advice to budding entrepreneurs.
Looking to the future, Entrepreneurship@King’s hopes to create new space to bring together entrepreneurship at King’s, continuing to grow by seeking out new ideas, skills and talent, both at King’s and throughout the London business community.
The winners of the Lion’s Den Challenge start-up competition are:
Best Start-up Award - EatAbout (£3,500 prize)
Best Start-up Idea Award - Medic (£2,000 prize)
Best Pitch Award - Crew Do (£1,500 prize)
Social Enterprise Award - Pacey Social Enterprise (£1,500 prize)
Health Tech Innovation Award - The QUIPP app (£1,500 prize)
Culture & Creative Entrepreneurship Award - Bahati Books (£1,000 prize)
For further information about Entrepreneurship@King’s , please visit their webpage.
Follow @InnovateKings on Twitter for updates, information on upcoming internal and external initiatives.
For more about King’s College London, please visit our King’s in Brief page.