The Young Enterprise Start-up Awards 2012

As I talked about in my previous blog post, CUFF’D were chosen to represent Kingston University and London, together with Curpy, at the UK national Young Enterprise Start-up Awards this year! As the competition was held May 18th, and we got the news Tuesday May 8th, things got pretty hectic. Our investment proposal report and the presentation had to be done and delivered within Monday May 14th, so we had to start working right away. But with the amazing team-mates I have, this was of course no problem! It of course involved some brainstorming and discussions, and quite a lot of stress, but the results were pretty good.

So, Friday was the day! Unfortunately our fourth member couldn’t be with us, but the three of us together with the Curpy team, showed up at Bank station at 11am, ready for action!

We were let in to the Guildhall at noon, and had time to set up our stand. Again we had done some improvements, and here is the result of this version

At 1:30, the 5 teams participating, got a briefing about the day, before getting ready for the interviews. All the teams had a 10 minute interview with 5 judges, were they asked us questions from the investment proposal report. It was a bit scary, but we felt we did well.
After the interview-round, it was time for judging on our stands. The judges walked around, spending probably around 5 minutes at each stand, talking to us and asking us more questions. This time we got to show off more of our product and talk to the judges in a more relaxed setting. The last part of the competition was our 4 minute presentation. After hours of rehearsal, we feel we managed to show off our company and product in an interesting and engaging way for the judges.

4 part of judging – investment proposal report, interviews, stand and presentation – was over, and we could finally breathe again. Now we got to do what we like more, talk to everyone else who came, about our product! We got so many complements, and many were interested in it. We actually sold one as well 🙂

At 6, the moment we all were waiting for came. Every group presented once more, this time in front of everyone there (which was actually a bit more scary). It was really nice to see the other groups presenting. And then the moment of truth – awards!
There were four awards: best stand, best presentation, best investment proposal report and best overall business.
CUFF’D proudly left with the award for Best Investment Proposal Report!

Even if we were a bit disappointed that we didn’t win, and got to go to the European final, this really was a day we won’t forget! It was an incredible opportunity and such an experience. We got to meet and talk to people from Santander and other businesses, we got to be in situations we most certainly will meet again in real-life, when applying to jobs, presenting cases, and especially in business meetings with CUFF’D.
We got to work with some brilliant people, like Bracey Parish from Young Enterprises, and Fazl-E Hasnain, who both really believed in us, motivated us, pushed us and gave us so much support! Thank you so much to both of you! This was an experience I will bring with me in to my professional life, and always look back at with pride.

 

Second trade fair

22 of March, we attended our second trade fair, this time in the market square in Kingston. After a pretty successful fair a month earlier, we were really excited about this, and had started preparing for it and developing our stand material some time in advanced. A couple of weeks earlier we had placed a manufacturing order of a number of products, and we were looking forward to be able to sell these on the fair.
Unfortunately, not everything in business turns out the way you want it too, and we ended up without any cuffs to sell on the fair. No matter how unmotivated this made us, we were going to that fair.

After a quick emergency meeting the evening before, we agreed on what we were going to do, and we further improved our stand material to adapt it to our new plan. We realised that we had to use the chance to talk to people, show off our video advert (which you can see here, in case you haven’t seen it yet), talk to people and promote our brand. This is how our stand turned out to be:

Even though we were maybe the only company there without products to sell, it didn’t stop us from giving people a good impression. We had many people coming over to look at our stand, talk to us, try on the test-cuff we had and asked about how and when we were selling them. It is possible that the fact that we didn’t have any products to sell then and there, that we created some curiosity and excitement behind our company, encouraging people to follow us online, and waiting to hear news about when they could buy it.

Since this trade fair was related to our course, there was judges walking around, talking to every company there. many of them were from John Lewis, and we got a lot of good feedback as well as tips on what we could improve. And to top off the afternoon, we also won a price for best stand! 😀

So, the conclusion from this experience had to be that: even if things don’t turn out how you expected or wanted, there can still be good things coming out of it. It’s all about turning the negative around to something positive, and in most cases that is possible 🙂

 

All about me!

I show up to my first “real” class today, and it just blew me away! What an amazing teacher, what an amazing group of people, and what an exciting course! And it all tops up when our homework is to: write about MYSELF 😀

So let me not keep you waiting any longer to get to know somethings about me, this tiny creature from Norway.

To start off with the formal part, I was born 24 years ago in a small city called Mo i Rana in the north of Norway, just under the artic circle. I have grown up with nature, hard weather, rainy summers, freezing winters, midnight sun and northern lights. All of this, and several other factors, have made me into the person I am today; independent, stubborn and positive (just to mention a few things,hehe).

Already in high school I discovered my leadership and communication skills. I was part of the school counsil and later on elected president of the student organisation for high school in my county. Working in an organisation, closely to a group of people developed my skills for communication, planning, arranging and leadership.The role of focusing on and planning many things at once, following and guiding many people, and arranging meetings and other event was something I really enjoyed.

My student life started in a city called Trondheim, where I graduated three years later with a bachelor in marketing. During those three years I also joined the student organisation.
I have a strong passion for travelling, and experience new places and cultures. In my 4th semester I was able mix travelling and studies, and had one semester in Monterrey, Mexico.

So, what do I have to offer? I see myself as a good teamplayer. I listen to others, I like to discuss and come to an agreement that fits the mayority. I am positive and I try to motivated the rest of the group when things get hard. From my bachelordegree I have some experience with writing a business plan. My economics skills are close to non-excisting, and I have never tried to start up a business. But I like new challenges and exploring new ways to do things! I like to learn from others, and share my knowledge as well. I easily adapt to other people, and  I am easy to get along with 🙂 This may not tell a lot about my academic skills, but I find them a bit difficult to describe. So I hope this can be helpful and makes you want to get to know me and maybe form a team with me 🙂 I love to get to know new people, and I’m excited to get to know you 🙂

Wanting new experiences and challenges, as well as a good degree, made me apply to a masters program at Kingston University. And here I am! All happy and excited for this coming year 😀

Can’t wait to get started on planning and starting a business, and to get to know all the amazing people in my  program! We will have a unforgettable year 🙂