Three undergraduate students from Warwick Business School recently won a “Be Your Own Boss” entrepreneurship competition, run by Warwick Entrepreneurs and sponsored by Merrill Lynch and Accenture.

Third year management students Stephen Leguillon, Steve Barns and Velin Djidjev entered their online start-up company e-resistible into the competition, and finished top out of over 50 entries, winning £1,000 and free business mentoring for the next 12 months.

The team finished first after pitching e-resistable, an online portal enabling people to order food from a variety of takeaways and restaurants in their own locality, with an interactive presentation demonstrating the service culminating in a pizza delivery to the judges. The judging panel, which included respected executives from Merrill Lynch and Accenture, voted unanimously to place the team first, with an impressive 47% of the audience agreeing.

Judge Matthew Hale from Merrill Lynch said of the team:

They put together a strong business plan that was a thoughtful, to-the-point document – which is something that investors are looking for.”

The business is going from strength to strength, covering nearly 150 restaurants in areas now including Birmingham, Bristol and London. The three directors started building the business last summer and now say that if they further increase the number of signed up restaurants, they will be able to pay themselves graduate salaries and have enough money remaining to run and grow the business.

About Warwick Entrepreneurs

Warwick Entrepreneurs was founded in March 2007 with the aim to support, develop and encourage entrepreneurship at Warwick and beyond. With over 200 members it provides a platform for personal and business development through regular workshops, enterprise initiatives and major events – all of which fortify its member’s positions as the leading entrepreneurs of the future. By collaborating with other societies such as Warwick Action Team Event Management, Radio Warwick (RaW) or Warwick Connective, Warwick Entrepreneurs provide greater networking opportunities with like-minded Warwick students and graduates.