Student Entrepreneurs Question Time Manchester

Yesterday we hosted our first ever Student Entrepreneurs Question Time with Santander. Sixty students and educators flocked to Manchester’s Town Hall- just down the road from the Labour Party Conference- to ask their questions directly to MP’s and enterprise experts.

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The panel included Labour MP William Bane, political entrepreneur Lord Mitchell, Santander’s Head of Education Chris Sharkey, Andrew Freeman of the Finance Foundation and our very own CEO Johnny Luk. It was chaired by Jonathan Moules, Business Correspondent at the Financial Times.

The lively discussion focused on the skills needed to succeed as an entrepreneur, the role that education plays in enterprise education and what more banks, corporates and government can be doing to support young entrepreneurs.

They all agreed that today’s technological advances gave entrepreneurs more opportunities than ever before. “There has never been a better time to start a business” said Chris Sharkey.

However, they warned that to succeed in business they need to be prepared to fail, remain ambitious without over-stretching themselves financially, and seek expert advice to negotiate complications such as managing intellectual property, exporting, contracts and funding.

Students at the event expressed their need for more practical support from the government and universities, such as mentoring schemes. Other ideas discussed included making use of vacant office buildings to house startup businesses and introducing assessment of entrepreneurial work undertaken during university degree courses as well as academic study.

Lord Mitchell spoke of his own experience starting a business. “Being an entrepreneur is the most fantastic thing you can do, but also the most frightening. Be prepared for failure. If failure will destroy you as a person, don't do it. You've got to look into your soul", he explained.

At NACUE, we recognise that young people need a voice so it was fantastic to connect students with the government in this way.

We’ll be doing it all over again next week in Birmingham (Monday 29th September) and again in Glasgow (Tuesday 7th October). We can’t wait to see you there!

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Our Impact
Our Mission
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We've achieved a great deal in a short number of years, though there's much more too do in supporting our mission of 'Powering the Enterprise Generation'.

32,000

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20,505

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Powering the Enterprising Generation

Our mission is to support the development of education and student engagement throughout college and universities by championing student enterprise societies and peer-to-peer learning. NACUE started from an extraordinary movement in student entrepreneurship, providing young individuals with a platform to be experimental, creative and inspiring in their approach to enterprise and entrepreneurship, encouraging a bottom-up approach to inspiring the next generation.

Today, we see over 200 enterprise societies, powered by peer-to-peer groups, who are championing the success of young people throughout their interactive programmes by forging collaborative relationships with their institutions to provide greater experience and development opportunities for their peers. Establishing regional links with locals SME’s who are keen to open their doors to emerging talented, proactive and enthusiastic graduates perpetuates this.

Our work is dedicated to supporting the development and encouragement of entrepreneurship amongst young individuals and forms the sole purpose of NACUE. To learn more about NACUE and the services we produce, click here.

As a not-for-profit, we raise charitable donations that allow us to widen the opportunities available to young people in relation to enterprise and entrepreneurship, strengthening student engagement, the quality of education and connecting and representing student enterprise societies and student entrepreneurs worldwide.

NACUE is a charitable organisation that supports 32,000 students and young people every year. As funding becomes harder to obtain, we rely on the generous support of donors to ensure our programs can continue to change the lives and aspirations of the younger generation.

A donation of any size goes a long way to furthering our work and really is greatly appreciated. Every gift matters in aiding our mission of ‘Powering the Enterprising Generation' but we mainly rely upon the generosity of our members and alumni to do this. By making a single or regular donation you can make a big difference. To learn more about how you can donate, please follow the links below.

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Large national network

NACUE are delighted to have supported a huge number of student-led societies over the years. You can see the number of established student-led societies on an interactive map below

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Who we work with

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are at the very core of NACUE, everything we do is to better the startup and self employment ecosystem. We believe that entrepreneurs will shape the future, and we bolster this through our events, our network and our advocacy.

Students

NACUE works with students in Colleges and Universities right across the UK, helping support them in their entrepreneurial goals and connect them with like minded peers.

Educators

NACUE works collaboratively with educators and academics in supporting the development of entrepreneurial mindsets in young people.

Our events

Our events offer the young people we work with the opportunity to connect with our wider network, the experts and seasoned entrepreneurs in our community and the chance to be inspired to take the leap of faith into entrepreneurship. These events are attended by students and graduates from universities and colleges up and down the UK, as well as students from across Europe. Student Societies take centre stage at our events, alongside innovators, game changers and trail blazers of the UK startup ecosystem.

Varsity Pitch 2024 Competition

The Student Enterprise Conference 2021

The difference we make

Alex Deung

Society President, Entrepreneurs Durham

It has been a great pleasure working closely with NACUE. NACUE has supported me both on big and small issues within my role. Without NACUE’s support, Entrepreneurs Durham wouldn’t be where it is today.

Wendy Funnell

Head, Centre for Entrepreneurship

The pleasure of seeing young people start something from nothing and watching them as they’re growing is wonderful. If we hadn’t had NACUE, we couldn’t do a lot of what we’re doing now. I can absolutely, categorically say that.

FE Student

FE Student, Enterprise Society

I am enjoying it (the enterprise society) a lot, and it’s great to be achieving something real. So often in college we plan to the point of doing the activity but then never actually do it.