February Newsletter

Student Engagement Leads to Awards success

Entrepreneurial DMU students are celebrating after being shortlisted for this year’s 2023 Business Live Innovation Awards.

Nayaab Mahomed is dedicated to creating a clothing range that mixes eastern and western aesthetics while also being sustainable. Nayaab’s clothing contains zero virgin material, making it significantly more environmentally friendly. Nayaab also aims to partner with organisations that will plant one tree and feed a homeless person for every product sold. Nayaab’s work has already been seen on the BRIT Awards red carpet, helping her on her way to changing the fashion industry for the better.

Nayaab has engaged with a number of our initiatives including the Leicester’s Future Entrepreneurs programme, Pitch2Win, our Connect event series as well as receiving 1-2-1 support from our team.

Nayaab told us “It's an honour to be a finalist and to be in the company of so many incredible businesses and entrepreneurs that I look up to. It gives me some confidence that I’m going in the right direction and should continue to strive towards the development of my craft”.

The Enactus DMU society are also shorstlisted, for a number of their successful sustainability projects. For example, Enactus’ Envirogreen project uses an allotment at the university to grow fresh food and sell it to students - and has plans to grow nutritional food for people across Leicester. The society also runs a project aimed at helping homeless people - delivering hygiene kits and working to set up a shelter. Enactus also runs a project to send medical equipment to countries in need.

Led by Komal Shahzadi, the society has gone from strength to strength this year, receiving support from Business & Law academic Dr. Regina Frank and Associate Director of Sustainable Development Goals/Impact, Mark Charlton. Society members have participated in our DMU Global Entrepreneurship events, Connect events and more.

Komal herself has been very active in our programmes and events, participating in Leicester’s Future BAME Entrepreneurs programme, Entrepreneurship Day conference and much more. She told us “When I saw the email for being shortlisted I couldn’t believe at first. Then I share this news with my society members. All of us are over the moon to be shortlisted. We cannot express our happiness in words. “

De Montfort University staff will attend the event on 16 February at the Space Centre. We wish our enterprising students the very best of luck!

DMUmade Series returns

DMUmade offers a series of workshops for any student or graduate who wants to develop new skills. The events are free, and are delivered by our team. Please do encourage students and graduates to enrol.

Booking:

Thursday 9 February: How to launch a side hustle or startup https://mygateway.dmu.ac.uk/students/events/detail/2747094

Thursday 16 February: Branding, marketing and launching your product or sevice https://mygateway.dmu.ac.uk/students/events/detail/2747094

Thursday 23 Februay: How to network online and in person, even if you hate it. http:/mygateway.dmu.ac.uk/students/events/detail/2742730

Participants will have the opportunity to apply for a DMUmade Bursary, supported by DMUforLife, and 1-2-1 support to help take their venture online.

121 appointments on the rise

An increasing number of students and graduates are making use of our 1-2-1 appointment time. All are welcome to arrange to come and talk through their business ideas with us. Please ask them to register via this website or directly via MyGateway.dmu.ac.uk

DMU Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Awards

Entrepreneurial alumni in New York city left DMU students feeling inspired and motivated in our first DMU Global Entrepreneurship trip of the year.

Clare Tattersall, who runs New York Digital Fashion Week and Pete Williams, a freelance designer for a number of global brands met our students to share their experiences and tips with them.

Drama student Emily Fenn told us “it was very useful and informative, as it allowed us to hear about their career and journeys to get to this point. It also gave me a chance to ask questions about aspects I wanted to hear more about. It was great to be able to talk to them afterwards as well as get further insight into the industry and create some connections”.

Graphic Design student Daniele Nenenaite said: “it was very useful and informative, as it allowed us to hear about their career and journeys to get to this point. It also gave me a chance to ask questions about aspects I wanted to hear more about. It was great to be able to talk to them afterwards as well as get further insight into the industry and create some connections.

The trip also included a visit to global entrepreneurship programme TiE, and our students participated in an online mixer event for tech start-ups.

Our next trip is to Barcelona in July, costing students just £100 to participate. Please do encourage students of all years to find out more about this creativity and entrepreneurship trip at dmuglobal.com

Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Awards 2023

Staff are encouraged to nominate enterprising students, staff and colleagues for this year’s Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Awards in Partnership with The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity and supported by DMUforLife.

A voting form is available at dmumade.com

Enterprise Placement Year with a difference

DMU’s Enterprise Placement Year provides students with the knowledge, space and time to develop their own business idea. They receive 1-2-1 support, workshops, academic support and workspace to help them take a business idea. The programme also develops the participants as entrepreneurial individuals.

Applications close 28 February. Please do encourage students to apply, here.

Connect at…Firebug

Our longrunning networking event series ‘Connect’ returns for a new season, kicking off at Firebug on Thursday 23 February from 5.30pm. These events bring together students, graduates, staff and the local business community to hear from local founders and to informally network and make new connections over drinks.

These events are free and we would love to see staff in attendance. Please register and share the details, which can be found at dmumade.com/take-part

Meet the Entrepreneur

On Thursday 9 March, students and graduates are invited to participate in our Ask The Entrepreneur event. Audience members will be able to put their questions to our special guests. A limited number of spaces are available in our physical audience, in the DSU hub, too. See dmumade.com/take-part

At the bottom of this website you can play our latest podcast, which features colleagues from DMU’s brilliant alumni team. Please do take a listen!