GSD staff and students contribute to the Warwick Enterprise Summer Programme 2020
Throughout Term 3, Warwick Enterprise hosted a Summer Programme designed to inspire students, encourage them to think about something new, and to connect the community.
Each week, academics, students, and guest speakers delivered virtual sessions organised around different themes. The first five weeks of the programme focused on the skills that underpin the development of entrepreneurial capability. The second half of the programme was built around the themes for the Ingenuity 2020 programme: creating prosperity, building community, improving health, and tackling climate change.
Staff and students from the GSD Department were involved in the programme, sharing their expertise, and engaging in conversations around the different topics.
In the first week of the programme, final-year Politics, International Studies and GSD student, Maddie Booth, shared her passion for sustainability and enterprise in an interactive webinar. Maddie is a co-founder of Warwick Cup, a cup-sharing system on campus, and the founder of SCRUBBEE, a sustainable cosmetic product that seeks to change the way products are consumed. You can find out about Maddie’s entrepreneurial journey to date here. During the webinar, Maddie shared her thoughts about staying motivated, putting wellbeing first, and overcoming the fear of failure.
"I thoroughly enjoyed hosting my talk on 'mindset and motivation' in the summer programme. It was a great opportunity to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs. We discussed the trials and tribulations of running your own business but also the great satisfaction of doing so which I hope will have been helpful, especially at a time like this, to those interested in starting a business."
Maddie Booth, final-year Politics, International Studies and GSD student
In week four of the programme, second-year GSD and Business Studies student, Innovation Fellow, and co-founder of The Human Entrepreneur, Luke Netherclift, hosted a webinar titled ‘Body language and pre-pitching tips’. Luke provided his audience with a whistlestop tour of how to improve body language and presentation techniques for a variety of situations. You can view Luke's session here.
Later in the programme, Luke also created and shared a spreadsheet of business ideas inspired by trends resulting from the shifts in society caused by COVID-19. This resource was designed to inspire further business ideas and to encourage participants in the programme to engage by adding their own ideas to the document.
"The Warwick Enterprise Summer Programme was an incredible way to learn and help develop my entrepreneurial skills and mindset! I really enjoyed attending workshops from inspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders to learn about how businesses can implement sustainability into their supply chains and how I can tap into my creative self which I often repress!
Furthermore, I really enjoyed giving a pitching and body language webinar to a group of students where I shared my story about how I overcame my fears of presenting and pitching my ideas. This was an amazing opportunity to give back to the student entrepreneur community at Warwick and support my fellow students in overcoming worries that they may have."
Luke Netherclift, second-year GSD and Business Studies student
Week seven of the programme saw Senior Teaching Fellows in GSD, Dr Jess Savage and Dr Alastair Smith, take to our screens with a session on the ‘Challenges of Climate Change and Sustainability – Perspective from Global Sustainable Development’. Jess and Alastair shared their experiences of teaching a variety of modules and how they support students to feel empowered to engage positively in sustainability problems and the issues faced by students who set up their own projects. The session was based around questions from the audience, including:
- What key policy within the UK do you think we might be missing?
- Do you believe businesses have a duty to stay up to date with innovations in the field of sustainability?
- How can we work to promote issues of social sustainability, so that they become more equally valued alongside environmental issues in the overall sustainability agenda?
You can view Jess' and Alastair's session here.
"I think Higher Education would benefit from much wider and deeper collaborations between the ‘academic knowledge’ of a University and more practical educational initiatives. I learned a lot from the staff and students involved in the Warwick Enterprise Summer Programme, and I only hope they also took away something from this collaboration."
Dr Alastair Smith, Senior Teaching Fellow in GSD
Shortly after Jess and Alastair’s session, GSD students shared their experiences in a webinar on sustainability-focused enterprises. Hollie Ryan, final-year Politics and International Studies and GSD student and Ellie Church, final-year Economic Studies and GSD student, shared their journey so far and their ambitions for the future of Warwick Cup. Maddie Booth then discussed her new business venture, SCRUBBEE. Maddie provided insight into the interesting approach she’s taking to skincare by focusing on letting customers know exactly what’s in the product, where the ingredients come from, and how the product is made. We then heard from Jonathan Karl, final-year GSD and Business Studies student, about Icycle, ‘a social enterprise on the journey to promote eyewear produced via communal plastic recycling'.
"The Warwick Enterprise programme is a unique opportunity for young Start-ups to not only showcase their potential but also learn from other resourceful entrepreneurs. It was impressive to learn from others striving to solve pressing issues of our time from new and clever angles."
Jonathan Karl, final-year GSD and Business Studies student
You can view the student sustainability projects session here.
If you missed any of the sessions or you would like to go back and watch a session again, Warwick Enterprise has put together a Summer 2020 highlights page. This archive is open to everyone (whether you're a Warwick student or not).