Kent hosted The Business Start Up Journey pitching finals on Wednesday 29 March at the Sibson Building (Canterbury campus), where 12 student businesses went head-to-head in a bid for the top prize of £1,000.
From supporting mental health through floristry, to using robotics and AI to improve efficiency in business and networking, the Kent students pitched a range of innovative and ambitious projects.
Maths and statistics student Seth Mashate was announced winner, with his business Data Ravens, a patient management system to optimise business performance in dental practices.
He said: ‘In the healthcare industry, they aren’t utilising data to the best of their ability. Data Ravens offers sophistication that is currently being used in other industries within their practices. Dental practices collect so much information but they don’t have the time to use any of it, to track their recall rates. What my company will do is alleviate that data training.’
Runners up were BSc Computing student Korben Mabbs with his home security surveillance device for student halls and Kent Business School student, Patrick Ubuane with myskillconnect, a portal for creatives in Nigeria to connect with one another.
Kent’s External Engagement Manager Rebecca Smith, who oversees ASPIRE, said: ‘Pitching finals is a snapshot of just some of the amazing students we have worked with over the year and once again the diversity of businesses being presented is really phenomenal.
‘It’s so exciting to be working with these amazing entrepreneurs who have such brilliant ideas and such passion to help make the world a better place. It makes me feel very optimistic for the future – something that’s really needed right now!”
Judges were CEO of Dune Daniel Rubin, Former KBS student and fashion entrepreneur Emay Enemokwu , Laura Bounds MBE owner of Kent Crisps and Nadia Simpson (also known as Ewura-Esi) a former KBS and ASPIRE student who runs haircare brand, Nu Elefa.
Finalists:
Pranav Kashyap (KBS MBA) Zesti. Robotic Process Automation services enabling businesses to reduce inefficient manual repetitive processes, replacing them with software automation, augmenting with machine learning, artificial intelligence and process mining.
Tahsin Haque (KBS UG) Flower Focus. Encouraging wellness through flowers – a floristry business specialising in providing workshops for floral arrangement.
Sandra M. Adjei Eyison (Arts and Hums UG). Fun bookmarks to make studying a more pleasurable experience.
William Everett & Jack Lalor (Computing UG) MusicBox a concert discovery platform that uses user-defined filters to find the consumer a perfect randomised concert for them to attend.
Izzy Cornelius-Merrell (KBS UG) Coeliac Kitchen. Nutritious and delicious ready meals for coeliac and gluten intolerant market.
Inetina Ebitonmor (KBS MBA) Yellow Table Talk. Empowerment of young women through mentoring, in-person mother/daughter ‘dates’, events and virtual conferences.
Mika Sanchez (Computing UG) Flexibility and stretching training for athletes and coaches to reduce injury, particularly musculoskeletal conditions, one of the largest areas of spending in the NHS.
Kelvin Prince Asare-Obuobi (KBS PG). Syka. Mobile banking app increasing access to finance in Nigeria.
Munya Mwaijumba (Law UG) Glimmr. Platform connecting independent beauty and hair experts with customers.
Business Start-Up Journey Winner Seth Mashate
Business Start-Up Journey Finalists 2023