News

Durham University's entrepreneurial success at business plan competition

(17 November 2005)

The regional universities enterprise competition Blueprint saw two companies from Durham University emerge as winners.

Durham postgraduate students Mike Jolley and Tim Short from IQOL Design won first prize ahead of a high quality field of entrants from the region’s five universities. Their company provides a discreet and compact product that helps those who suffer from varying degrees of incontinence. The product is in the early stages of market launch and the cash prize of £10,000 will go a long way to taking the business to the next stage of development. Another Durham University winner, graduate Jules Fossett, whose company Amoralia has created the world’s first range of luxury maternity lingerie won the runner-up award and the ‘Dare to be Different’ award sponsored by Musa Fine Art. Jules, who graduated from Durham two years ago, got the idea while working at an ad agency for a lingerie client and chatting about the products to her two sisters who were both pregnant. Now in its second year, the competition aims to promote enterprise and entrepreneurship in the North-East's five universities, to encourage graduates to set up their own businesses and to stay in the region. The budding entrepreneurs with the two best business ideas to come out of the competition each walk away with £10,000 in cash, as well as thousands of pounds-worth of other prizes. Already backed by the regional development agency One NorthEast, Blueprint has now also won the Government's seal of approval with Government minister for Competitiveness Barry Gardiner throwing his support behind the enterprising students. IQOL and Amoralia both won their place in the regional final through the competition at Durham University. This year, the Durham rounds involved 80 teams with a total of 138 individuals from across the University submitting their business ideas. Twenty one finalists were chosen from these entries with the judging panel deciding on IQOL and Amoralia as the ones to go through to the regional final. The Durham contest was organised by Rachel Orange at Durham Business School who is already looking at next year’s competition. She said: “We are launching a series of enterprise masterclasses and a regional entrepreneurship event which will be attended by students from the region’s five universities. This is all part of the enterprise exchange programme at the Business School and will lead us into next year’s Blueprint competition.”