We've supported people from all across Brookes to develop their talent and build ambition. Find out what they have learnt at Brookes Enterprise Support and how it has helped them bring their entrepreneurial aspirations to life.
Case Studies
We've supported a number of entrepreneurs, social innovators and creative thinkers to evolve their ideas to the next level.
Brookes student uses their industry knowledge to create an artistic space for Oxford Brookes Art and Design Students and Alumni.
Etain O’Caroll is a soon-to-be Masters graduate in Fine Art. Understanding how hard it can be to break into the art industry without gallery representation, Etain founded OBU Atelier to support Oxford Brookes art and design students and alumni who wish to break into the industry/
Etain was a part of the 2021 Autumn Spark cohort and found the programme beneficial in helping to fine-tune and develop their business idea. As a winner of the programme, they received £500 in business seed-funding to contribute toward their business’ growth.
Here’s what Etain told us about their experiences with Brookes Enterprise Support:
Tell us about your business
OBU Atelier is a platform to promote and sell the works of Oxford Brookes art and design students and alumni. Breaking into the art industry is notoriously difficult without gallery representation and this initiative aims to fill that gap and smooth the passage from art education to making a sustainable living as an artist. OBU Atelier is an online and physical gallery space offering promotion and sales as well as continuous professional development for artists, art courses for the public and space for everyone to discuss art and creativity. It will also act as a central hub for creative collaborations between departments at Oxford Brookes.
What are the next steps for your business?
Initially, we will have pop-up gallery spaces to test our market and keep overheads low. Meanwhile, we will set up an e-commerce site and social media and get the idea going in the virtual space while finding further funding and support. The main aim is to work to get an endorsement from Oxford Brookes in order to work collaboratively with the university on this initiative. We will exhibit at Art Weeks, the largest and longest-running open studio event in the country, and aim to enter collectively for art fairs that are prohibitively expensive for individuals.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The Spark programme did a great job of walking us through all the elements needed to develop an idea into a much firmer concept, which forced evolution and fine-tuning that was much needed. Having experts from business and industry on hand was hugely helpful, as was the pitching process and preparation for it.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Stop thinking vaguely about your idea and start researching it properly. It will soon become clear if it is viable.
Oscar McEntee is a current Brookes Philosophy Student set to graduate in 2024. Alongside his studies, Oscar is the Director and Team Principal for McEntee Racing Team (MRT33), a professional Motorsport team that was founded in 2018.
Oscar was one of eleven who competed for up to £3000 business development funding in the 2021 Autumn Fuel award pitches. He successfully secured funding to support his business scale-up plans.
Here’s what Oscar told us about his experiences with Brookes Enterprise Support:
Tell us about your business
The McEntee Racing Team (MRT33) is a professional Motorsport team currently competing nationally in Hillclimb and Sprint racing. Pushing for diversity within Motorsport with our nationwide Esport championship, we trade track-side at racetracks giving race fans the opportunity to compete on our driving simulators. We are hunting across the UK to find the next racing star to drive our race car, with the customer who sets the fastest time getting to drive our car on a real-life track. We are a team inspired by the love of competition, we want to race the fastest cars at the highest level as well as giving the diverse fans of the sport an opportunity to feel the thrill of driving a racing on the edge of what's humanly possible.
What are the next steps for your business?
Over the next year, the McEntee Racing Team aims to build upon its solid foundations. We aim to scale up our Esport trade stand to allow more race fans to compete as well as allowing our company to visit more race venues. We will launch our mobile game adding ever more involvement to the new generation of younger Motorsports fans. As a whole, the company is planning on moving towards an Eco-friendly future with the aim to prove that Motorsport can go green and be faster than ever. We have a fully electric race car under development and are planning to dominate both on the track and off, with MRT33 being the most accessible racing team at a grassroots level. As a company, we plan to dive into the future head first and compete to win.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The most valuable element of support provided by Brookes Enterprise support was the availability to talk to influential and successful people in their respective sectors. Hearing first-hand advice from people who have worked through similar obstacles as I am trying to do is exceptionally helpful. Similarly being able to speak to other budding entrepreneurs gives an excellent chance to brainstorm and connect with people who have a similar mindset set to myself, which allowed for open conversations about the work that I am doing. It is a friendly environment that enables both personal and business growth.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
If you don't try the spectacular the spectacular won't happen.
Duray Pretorius is a recent Brookes graduate in Sport and Exercise Science from the class of 2021. He realised his business, Viaduct Gen, through ambition and determination.
He took part in our Spark, Fuel, Catalyst and Mentoring and Advice Clinic programmes which helped him during the process of creating and improving his business.
Tell us about your business
Viaduct Gen helps underrepresented businesses and their allies to rank higher on Google and other search engines. The mission statement for the company is ‘amplifying underrepresented founders to better economic prosperity’.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
The aim is to raise £60,000 in a crowdfunding campaign in October, this will help us get an office space soon.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The most valuable features of the programmes were the mentoring, funding from workshops, and the speakers on the programmes. The BES team have always been amazingly helpful.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Start. Start quickly and violently. You will figure out the precise next steps later. Just get started. Do not hesitate. Also, do not neglect your mental health. The only way to do amazing things is to feel amazing in yourself.
Stan Windsor is a member of staff and Brookes alumnus. He graduated in Branding and Marketing of a Healthcare Product from the class of 2013. He dedicated himself to the realisation of his business, HandHeld Health, which was formed in 2020 as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stan wanted his project to thrive in the world of business and it did. He received help from our Catalyst programme which gave him a better understanding of the branding and marketing of a healthcare product.
Tell us about your business
HandHeld Health provides a novel way of helping people with respiratory disease rehabilitate within a home-based environment. We have a mission to provide safe, effective and low-cost healthcare services to people living with long-term health conditions in a way that democratises healthcare. We have to date won 3 government backed grants (£173,000) from which we have produced a minimum viable product. We are currently looking to raise £200,000 in order to realise the next phase of development. We are pre-seed and looking to launch onto the app store as a result of winning Catalyst.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
We have applied for an innovative UK SMART grant to help us build the infrastructure to scale and attract bulk licence deals. We hope to have our first hospital trust using the platform before the end of 2022.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
Learning about how to brand and market a healthcare product which was fundamental to the aim of creating HandHeld Health.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Say yes to every opportunity and never leave yourself asking what if.
Victoria Barker is a Brookes alumni who graduated in International Hospitality Management. She worked hard on the realisation of her business, Credible Coach, a coaching platform which works in collaboration with credible and proven coaches.
By taking part in our Catalyst programme, Victoria was able to see her business idea turn into reality and further develop, thanks to the mentoring that Brookes Enterprise Support provided her with.
Tell us about your business
At Credible Coach, the aim is to ensure that our customers gather all the benefits of coaching. That's why we only work with credible and proven coaches: to provide a secure service to our customers.
We only onboard coaches who have been proven to be successful and provide full transparency of their previous coaching work with detailed testimonials, videos, and interviews. Also, we use advanced questionnaires and an artificial intelligence-powered algorithm to match you with the best possible coaches. Our AI compares your input with the coach's past client feedback, communication approach, areas of specialism and experience, and then points you in the direction of someone who has a proven track record.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
The next steps are to grow our portfolio of credible coaches to 500 by July 2022, and to have successfully matched 800 founders or leaders to credible coaches.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The mentoring provided from an array of business leaders, including investors who gave one-to-one guidance, support and feedback to ensure your business is investment ready.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
It will get much harder before it gets easier. However, remain consistent and be willing to make short term sacrifices for long term gains.
CarGuide founders Mima Rybanska and Olli Astley come from the automotive background and felt frustrated by the lack of information, guidance and transparency available when it comes to buying a used car, leasing or getting a car subscription.
In order to fill this gap and grow her business, Mima applied to Catalyst. Catalyst is an intensive 10 week programme delivered by Brookes Enterprise Support in partnership with The Institute for Ethical AI. It gives tech businesses training and mentoring to strengthen the foundation of their business and get investment ready.
Tell us what is the mission of your business and what inspired you.
Our mission is to change the way we buy, lease and rent cars. We aim to help Motorists make an informed decision when it comes to car user-ship or car ownership.
We already worked in the field of cars and we realised that often we could not offer an adequate service to our customers because we did not have all the necessary information to save people from a wrong car purchase! And this made us distressed.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
CarGuide.co.uk uses machine learning to uncover a vehicles’ history and also predicts what’s likely to go wrong in the future. This year we plan to build an engine that will help people decide whether it is better to buy, rent or lease a vehicle based on the Motorists’ personal driving circumstances. We aim to tackle the UK first before expanding globally.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The Catalyst programme has been amazing. It was great to meet other founders currently going through similar challenges. Also, the guest speakers we had on different topics were all relevant to us entrepreneurs and gave us ideas on how to grow our business and pitch in front of investors.
What's one piece of advice you'd share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Build your support network. It will get challenging, it will get tough and in those times the right support network is key! This could be your friends, partners, investors, advisors or a business mentor (such as Catalyst). They all play a role and are an important part on your way to success.
Remember things always take longer than expected, so ensure you have sufficient flexibility in your funding runway.
Hector Forwood, a Brookes alumnus, graduated in Biomedical Science in 2015. He has applied his knowledge and studies to develop Comtura - a SaaS platform within the Revenue Enablement ecosystem. After winning Fuel, he was able to further develop his business and take it to the next level.
Tell us about your business
Comtura is on a mission to make admin extinct for customer facing teams. It is a SaaS platform, specifically within the Revenue Enablement ecosystem. I started Comtura after executing around 2,500 product demonstrations as an Account Executive and experienced first hand how difficult and long it was.
What are the next steps for your business?
Closing our pre-seed round and investing into growth, marketing and AI. Then we will follow traditional fundraising routes eventually aiming to IPO.
We plan to expand internationally penetrating the US market and aim to become global.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
FUEL’s funding has provided our company with the funding necessary for the development of a product that is very appreciated by people for the value it provides them.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
As cliché as it may seem, never ever give up! Hundreds and thousands of people will reject your idea and won’t share your dream or vision. But keep going because for every ‘no’ you will get, there’s going to be less steps to achieve your dream.
Daniel Satch is a Brookes student completing his degree in Sport and Exercise Science. He is also an athlete and a physical training instructor and combat engineer in the British Army. Fitness has always been a passion of Daniel’s. This passion fueled the ambition to start his business, Belvedere Apparel, which aims to create sustainable sportswear and gym apparel. This year he had the opportunity to perfect his ideas by taking part in the Spark Awards - and he was one of the winners!
What is the name of your business, what is it about and what inspired you to start it?
The name of the business is Belvedere Apparel and my inspiration is to contribute positively to two things I am very passionate about - the environment and keeping active through sport/physical activity. The business is about creating sportswear and gym apparel in the most environmentally friendly way possible, producing clothing and delivering locally to Oxfordshire and the rest of the UK, reducing the significant impact the clothing industry has to our beautiful planet.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
My next step is to utilise the funding from Spark to produce an MVP, to test various potential manufacturers and distributors to ensure the quality and environmentally friendly factors are met in line with Belvedere Apparel. Once this is identified, we can then start designing and producing eco sportswear for customers.
Which elements made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The opportunity to book 1 on 1 sessions with Enterprise mentors really helped me set my goals and clarify questions I had throughout the Spark programme.
What's one piece of advice you'd share with someone starting their entrepreneurial journey?
Get out there and do it! I was quite reluctant to enter onto the programme due to not really having a business and entrepreneur background but I am very happy I made that step. The Spark programme is designed for this and guided me through the challenging and rewarding journey.
Tumi Onanuga is a Brookes graduate in Human Resources Management. After finishing her Master’s Degree Tumi followed her passion for creative writing and decided to start a business making getting published more accessible.
After partaking in our Start-Up Visa, Rise and Spark programmes, Tumi took what she’d learnt from industry experts, workshops and webinars to develop Typedia; a fiction publisher that simplifies the publication process.
Tell us more about your business
My business belongs to the publishing industry. Our mission is to give a home to fictional writers, with freedom in creativity and pace. I was inspired to start this business as I have been writing since I was 9 and getting published seemed like a dream given the many complexities of self and traditional publishing. These include price, change of taste, cost and so on.
We are a bespoke publishing media company that specialises in producing outstanding quality illustrative book covers and page turning fictional books. This business aims to give writers creative control, independence and pace control in their writing journey. We do this by offering virtual consultations booked by writers themselves, to our editorial and story building, digital art, publishing and marketing team. With us, writers don’t have to compromise book cover designs with content or vice versa. Our mission is to be the just right choice of the hot and cold extremes of traditional publishing and self-publishing.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
I would like to fully focus on developing customer experience in its entirety, as I have recently carried out a survey that showed me who my target audience is. In this regard I aim to provide a service beyond business that crosses boundaries on relativity and creativity. I would like to welcome my customers by the second half of the year and begin developing my business through team expansion, research development of new features to offer both tiers of clients (the writers and the readers) and ways to keep my team motivated. I want to register my business, recruit my first team, advertise, and publish my book as a trailblazer this year.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
I value both Rise and Spark, and as an immediate beneficiary of the start-up visa programme I have been able to think far ahead into the business right from the beginning. I now plan with deadlines using the STARE technique and I always plan to the end. Cash flow and marketing were my biggest problem areas but now they are less daunting and I am excited to see what the next stage has in store for me.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
At risk of sounding cliche, I'd say just do it. Don't overthink, because in most cases the things you think make a business stay afloat are still considered the "small stuff". So don't sweat the small stuff. Write a quick outline of your plan, and grow it as often as you can. If after the first draft you are able to start your business do just that! Sometimes we just need to get out of our own way.
Brookes recent graduate uses their knowledge of Biotechnology to create an innovative new product.
Vanessa Barzasi is a 2019 graduate in Economics. She co-founded her business, BioBright, alongside her brother, Ayrton, with the aim of creating a new innovative and affordable way to make natural mood lights.
Vanessa was a member of the Spark Cohort in Autumn 2021 which helped her to develop her business idea and take the first steps toward registering her business. As a winner of the programme, she received £500 seed funding which she will be using to get her business started. Following this success, Vanessa and her brother went on to complete the Fuel Programme in Spring 2022 where they successfully secured business development funding. Vanessa was also a member of the most recent Bloom Cohort in 21/22.
Here’s what Vanessa told us about her experiences with Brookes Enterprise Support:
Tell us more about your business
At BioBright we have created a new innovative way to make natural mood lights without damaging the environment and without the use of electricity. We set out to create this product after coming to the realisation that lighting can not only be expensive (with costs likely to increase in the future) but it negatively impacts our environment, accounting for about 20% of worldwide energy consumption. Bioluminescent algae is a by-product of the well-known problem that is Climate Change and rising temperatures. If the sea contains a large number of bioluminescent algae, this can be very toxic for fish. Instead of killing bioluminescent algae, we are saving them and treating them as a pet and having light at the same time.
During the development of the first product, natural mood lighting, we discovered that most people do not have a green thumb and they do not know how to take care of plants. Most people buy plants and after a couple of months or even weeks the plant will die typicallydue to the lack of maintenance or sometimes rooms are too warm for them. For this reason, we also are cultivating freshwater plants that can grow under any conditions. Perfect with people that love nature but do not have a green thumb. We are educating people to enable them to have an environmentally sustainable lifestyle.
Because together, we can make your future brighter again.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
We are aiming to open a pop-up in Milan and launch our first e-commerce site. In September, we are planning to move to London and join a startup incubator, which will allow us to have free working space and network opportunities. On the other hand, we are aiming to expand our business in Europe.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The most valuable elements of support provided by Brookes Enterprise Support have been the mentoring, funding and providing me the opportunity to talk to influential and very successful entrepreneurs. In 2021, I had the opportunity to join the Bloom Programme, where I was able to improve my entrepreneurial skills and develop important network opportunities with other like-minded women. The Spark Programme was extremely important to build a solid knowledge in business and in the process of developing an idea. While the Fuel Programme was essential to launch a business. The Brookes Enterprise Support team was always there to help me and my brother.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Being an entrepreneur is not easy, especially at the beginning but you need to be stubborn, follow your dreams and never never give up!
Matt Woolford is a Brookes student in Computer Science who will graduate in 2022. He put all of his effort into his business, Trendineer, an online marketplace which makes online shopping a social, interactive and engaging experience.
Matt has worked hard on collaborating with businesses in the retail sector to make social shopping come to life, aiming to reach unlimited scope of scalability. He achieved his dream with the help of our Fuel programme, where he had the chance to talk to experienced professionals. This opened his eyes to the business world, informed and inspired him.
Tell us about your business
Trendineer is an online platform for social shopping which works in collaboration with companies in the retail sector whose aim is to make shopping an interactive experience especially in a time when the world has become so cut-off.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
The team is planning the first public release at the start of 2022. Then we aim to build a community of retailers and customers who are similar in what they offer and what they seek for.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Be prepared to work hard, but work hard in order to be continually rewarded and inspired to do more.
Nila Matthews has recently graduated from Brookes after completing her Master's in Psychology. Before that she already had an impressive resume, having worked for companies such as Sky and Yahoo where she was in charge of leading the development for business-critical initiatives. Nila has always been passionate about empowering others and lifting people up from difficult places. She is planning to achieve this through her latest upcoming venture 'Awakening Flow' (website to launch soon). Part of the development of Awakening Flow came during Nila’s participation in the Spark Awards, a step-by-step programme offered by Brookes Enterprise Support that aims to make business ideas a reality.
What is your business about and what inspired you to start it?
The aim of my business is to up-level consciousness and intuition and help women to live a life, free of self-limiting labels. My passion and career has been about changing behaviour, usually via persuasive technology for large corporates. Having studied psychology and neuroscience to heal myself, I don't believe lasting change occurs from the mind alone, yet 1 in 20 suffer from some sort of issue that keeps them feeling small, stuck and sabotaged and 1 in 6 (at work) go on to develop serious mental health issues. That was me and I spent years, lots of time reading, effort and money on courses looking for solutions. I became my own laboratory.
I want to stop women falling into a serious condition and also help women unleash the reluctant hero within to manifest their great ideas - which may never see the light of day as they have no confidence to bring it to the world - like me. But I have now transformed using these skills as I, like some other greats in this field have bridged the gap of science and spirituality, but with my own sense of lightness, to create teachings, training and toolsets to help women transition and transform and ultimately awaken their intuition - their real knowing. These tools are also tuned to personality tendencies.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
Create a series of content and align their essence to specific mediums: podcast, social media, but ultimately to share via online and VIP courses. I am investing in my brand, website and marketing and later in the year revisiting my wireframes for my supporting app.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The process has helped me build my initiative and ability to talk and refine it as I learn and hear from other participants and mentors.
What's one advice you'd share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Don't give up and come with your cup empty (i.e. don't think you know everything already)- just listen, learn, try, pivot and learn again. Some mentors won't resonate - but you don't need to be bound by their judgement alone, just be willing to listen to acknowledge the advice.
Andrea Kovacevic is a Brookes student who is soon to graduate with a degree in Business Management. During her studies she found the time to launch the inspiring stationery company Her Empire Lifestyle. Combining her lifelong desire to have her own successful brand and her ambition to increase female empowerment, Andrea has managed to build a strong community of women who support each other through the amazing accessories Her Lifestyle Empire has to offer. In addition to all the success she has achieved so far, Andrea was also one of the winners at the most recent Fuel Awards after 8 weeks of vital learning on how to take her business to the next level.
What is your business about and what inspired you to start it?
Here at her empire lifestyle it’s our mission to help women achieve their goals by providing them with the most empowering stationery and community to help them on their journey. As long as I can remember I’ve always had a dream to make an impact with my very own successful brand. As my page started to grow to 20,000 followers, I knew it was the perfect platform to get started. The platform was perfect for listening to what women wanted and needed.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
The next steps will be to continue to grow my platform and community. I would also love to expand the product line by using my platform and feedback to introduce new products that will be loved and used by ambitious women. My aim is to turn this into a global brand with many women using and loving my products.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
I found the Thursday sessions incredibly helpful. In particular the break out rooms where we were able to discuss with the group different areas of our business. This not only made me more confident in my business. It also made me learn so much more from mentors and from other entrepreneurs being able to discuss different experiences along with giving feedback to one another.
What's one advice you'd share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Never give up! Consistency is so important especially when you're starting up. Find something you're passionate about so that when things don't go your way, you don't lose focus and give up. Starting isn't going to be easy but remember success doesn't come from what you do occasionally. It comes from what you do consistently.
Ayo Mhlanga has worked at Brookes as part of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences for a few years now and during that time has developed and co-founded the healthcare training company Elideon Training Solutions. Ayo was frustrated after her own personal experience of seeing the lack of skills some carers showed, especially when dealing with complex health issues. She decided a specialised training service would be the perfect solution. Elideon’s flexible approach allows their skilled paediatric and adult nurses to teach carers from the comfort of their own home. It explores everything from respiratory management to epilepsy awareness. Ayo was also recently able to showcase her business on this year’s Rise programme, which is aimed at amplifying the voices of ethnically diverse changemakers.
What is your business about and what inspired you to start it?
Elideon Training Solutions aims to deliver specialist training to community health care workers, focusing especially on complex healthcare issues. We are very passionate in what we do and we aim to ensure that our training is delivered at a pace that is tailored to individual learning methods. The inspiration came from my own frustration with the lack of skills sometimes shown by carers as I want all families to receive the best care possible.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
I would like to get accredited and to be able to deliver training at different levels, care agencies, local authority, CCGs, etc.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
Being able to talk to entrepreneurs and hear about their journeys, failures and their ability to start up again. It has been very motivational.
What's one advice you'd share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Never give up, take time to recognise failures but get up and go on. Be your authentic self.
Rachel Hammond is a MA Urban Design Graduate from the Class of 2020. Through attending our Bloom programme, she was able to expand her business Edge and strengthen the business foundation. Check out Edge’s Instagram page.
Tell us about your business
Edge has been running for five years now and our mission is to increase the production of urban food through efficient design and good education.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
To launch our Urban Food Production Toolkit and offer online courses for those interested.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The coaching and networking opportunities which the Bloom programme included in the sessions.
What is one advice you would share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Keep notes of everything. Do not rush.
Veronica Ferrari is currently undergoing her MA in publishing (Distance Learning). Through attending our Bloom programme she was able to set her business into full motion. More Than Just Views helps writers, authors and bookish creatives build a sustainable career with words.
Tell us about your business
I am on a mission to empower multi-passionate writers with the resources, knowledge, and mindset to plot a sustainable career full of words and grow on their writing journey. I hope my work will help bring some change in the media and publishing industries, promoting more diverse voices and tackling issues including pay gap, accessibility, and transparency.
Writers looking at a view see much more than just a landscape: they are looking at a story, developing a character, describing a scene, composing rhymes, or designing the cover of a magazine in their minds. When an idea starts to take shape, it untangles and becomes a thread of words on the page, ready to be shared with the world. These views turn into the books we love to cuddle up with, the articles we skim on our phones, the podcasts we listen to in our walks and the newsletter we get in our inboxes. But on the other side, what do writers look like? What is their reflection in the glass showing them?
From aspiring writers looking at getting their first work published, to experienced authors wanting to take their writing full time, to creatives and experts wanting to combine their art and knowledge with their passion for writing and books, at More Than Just Views they will get support with industry knowledge, writing tips, creative portfolio development, personal branding, money, and well-being advice.
Through online resources, 1-1 coaching, and group programmes, I will empower my clients with the tools to shape their creative careers. Starting online, I hope one day to run in-person retreats to create a community of writers making a sustainable living from their craft.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
Getting started with my 1-1 and group programmes for writers and fully establishing a full website full of free resources for everyone whilst building an online community.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The Bloom sessions have been invaluable to work on the foundation of business and move from just an idea to a full plan with branding.
What is one piece of advice you would share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Find a group of people to share your ideas and progress with. The moment you get things out of your head and say them out loud, it will give you the energy to get it done.
David Onaolapo is a Brookes graduate in Business and Management from the class of 2019. He has taken his artistic talent to the next level to create his own business DaffDuff Art - selling his prints and working with clients to tell their stories in new and innovative ways.
David has worked closely with Brookes Enterprise Support on his business, having been accepted on our Rise, Spark and Fuel programmes, worked with a mentor and been endorsed for a Start-Up Visa. His hard work has paid off with his Instagram account, @daffduff_art, having over 50,000 followers and successfully selling his art on sites like RedBubble and Displate. To find out more about David and his amazing art, visit his linktree to find all his social media and where to support his work.
Tell us about your business
We aim to create thrilling and unique digital media, illustrations and animations to capture the attention of viewers and supporters for years to come. Creating new and innovative ways to communicate the vision, mission and ambitions of individuals and organisations alike using engaging storytelling techniques.
What are the next steps for your business?
Expanding the team and scale of our projects to push towards the goals of developing and producing original stories.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The 1-to-1 mentoring with Tim Foster and the weekly webinars.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Don’t be discouraged in the early days. There’s a surprisingly good amount of information and resources available to help entrepreneurs get in the right mindset to chase their goals. Joining a community of like minded people will for sure be good for your sense of security and assurance in what you’re doing.
It’s going to be hard, but make sure you have a good understanding of your weekly schedule. Identify what needs to be dropped (Netflix time, video game time) and cling to what needs to be picked up (reading, webinars, communities).
Kat Clark is a Brookes staff member who created a business which allows you to discover the various local products you can purchase and use. After taking part in our Bloom programme, Kat was able to take the advice given and use it to think about how she can grow Oxonbox further.
Follow Oxonbox on Instagram and Facebook to find out more about their subscription boxes.
Tell us about your business
Oxonbox is a subscription box service that helps you to discover local products. We feature a range of products including home-ware, food and drink, and skincare to name a few, all sourced from small businesses based in Oxfordshire. We founded Oxonbox in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic as we found that, during lockdown, people began shopping more locally and were pleasantly surprised by what they found.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
We would love to triple our subscriber base in the next year. We would also love to do some brand collaborations with some of our small businesses and work with local charities. Hopefully once the pandemic is a distant memory we will be able to get out and about to some markets and events to meet potential new subscribers and suppliers! We are also planning to launch our corporate offering.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
It has been great to connect with other people at Brookes who have high ideas and big dreams- it is always nice to feel like you are not the only one. The range of speakers that BES has provided so far in Bloom has been amazing, the advice is excellent and has made me think about how I can grow Oxonbox.
What is one advice you would share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Just go for it! You will always find a reason not to take the plunge and launch your business idea, so just make a start. It will not be perfect, just make a start, learn and improve as you go.
Johannah Fening is a Brookes alumni who recently graduated with a Distinction in Applied Design in Architecture. Just a short time after her graduation she recognised the need for a gift-giving service that was more ethical and catered to our loved one’s cultural background. This lead her to co-found Hug Hampers - a gift-giving service which aims to make gift-giving a meaningful and memorable experience for both giver and receiver. In the process of finding her feet as a business owner, Johannah participated in the Fuel Awards, a programme powered by Brookes Enterprise Support and Santander Universities which teaches entrepreneurs tangible skills they can use to take their business to the next level.
Tell us a little bit about your business and what inspired you to start it
We started the business because we saw the need for culturally diverse, ethical and eco-friendly hampers. The ones we found were not unique in any way as they featured many generic items. Due to the pandemic, we also saw a big shift in the celebration of occasions at home and virtually which many predict could be the new norm. We saw the opportunity of using this situation to create intimate and memorable experiences through our Hug Hampers as an alternative to traditional gifts. As a result, Hug Hampers curate experiential gift hampers featuring diverse and ethical products and eco-friendly packaging with the aim of creating memorable occasions while enhancing relationships.
We make gift-giving intimate by including our own range of bespoke connect cards which promote engaging conversation. Our Hug Hampers can be used by anyone who wants to give and participate in a unique gift-giving experience. They are perfect for annual occasions, national holidays, private functions or just because.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
We plan on expanding our product range to have a variety of Hug Hampers throughout the year for various occasions and for different groups of people to share. This includes (but not limited to) Hug Hampers for 1, 2, 4, 6, and virtual Hug Hamper parties. We also plan on introducing tailored services for businesses and events, where clients can order a selection of Hug Hampers for their business (e.g. a staff Christmas gifts) or even clients who are planning private functions (e.g. a bridal shower). We will accelerate our growth through effective and targeted marketing strategies which we look forward to developing.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
Brookes Enterprise Support provided us with attentive and supportive staff and advisors who worked with us through the Fuel process. Their clarity and availability for questions and support made our experience seamless, enjoyable and really useful for our learning.
What's one advice you'd share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
Advice I would give to someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey is to not be afraid to put yourself out there and ask! This could be asking for help in any capacity, asking for a mentor, asking questions/for advice, asking for resources, asking for funding, asking for people to contribute to market research, asking for favours etc. Don't feel like you have to do everything by yourself because there are so many resources, people and programs (such as Fuel) that are out there and willing to help.
June is a recent Brookes graduate in Building Information Modelling and Management from the Class of 2020. She put a lot of effort into her business, Mirage by Murage, which produces sustainable scented candles through recycling and upcycling.
June created and improved her business with the help of our Spark, Fuel and Bloom programmes which she attended and found particularly useful.
Tell us about your business
Mirage by Murage makes sustainable living products, primarily through up-cycling and recycling. Our pioneer product is scented candles in up-cycled beer and spirit bottles. This initiative started as a way to declutter my space of glass waste since we don’t have a strong recycling culture or the infrastructure to facilitate it. We are currently a micro-business based in Nairobi-Kenya, and looking to expand to the rest of the East Africa Community.
What are the next steps to grow your business in the next year?
We are currently looking to incorporate the African narrative of sustainable living into our production, to show that the concept of sustainability is not a new one but has always been an inherent part of our culture.
Which elements of support made available by Brookes Enterprise Support have been of most value?
The most important feature of Brookes Enterprise Support’s programmes was their one to one mentorship sessions provided which were very helpful to me in creating and improving my business.
What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
There’s no secret handbook to being a great entrepreneur, most of it is resilience and persistence; knowledge (technical) and passion are a close second.
Learn how current first-year Business Management and Marketing Student Josh Hanlan is making an endeavour to restyle fashion through his unique clothing brand Saijaku, that aims to bring in a sustainable, handmade touch to your closet.
Josh attended our Spark programme, a 6-week programme introducing the key skills needed to start a business with each weekly session delivered by a different specialist mentor on various subjects to help entrepreneurs launch their businesses successfully. Josh pitched the idea of starting his own creative apparel brand and received full funding to take his idea to the next level.
Read about Josh’s new entrepreneurial venture and how he plans to expand it further in the near future, in his own words.
Connect with Josh and check out the latest updates on his soon to arrive collection.
Tell us about your business
With a background in reselling clothing around the world, I’m not satisfied with the industry's lack of concern for creativity, passion, the environment and the growing demand for individuality. After meeting so many talented creatives doing wonderful work with textiles I wanted to be able to highlight their processes and allow others to experience these techniques, without having to travel the world to be aware that these products are possible.
Taking inspiration from the best designs and manufacturing processes seen around the world and applying these to Seijaku, we are reworking existing clothing into new items using a multitude of techniques, allowing clients to choose from Seijaku’s in-house collection, or alternatively to send in their own materials and designs to realise their dream garments. All Seijaku items are handmade and due to the nature of the processes used, each piece is unique and unlike any other. “You were born an original, don’t die a copy”. Seijaku is a brand for the people who desire their clothes to be a better reflection of their character and style, sustainably. Our collection will be available from Autumn / Winter 2020.
How has Brookes Enterprise Support helped you make your idea happen?
Brookes Enterprise Support Team has supported the growth of Seijaku financially and practically through enabling the sourcing of materials, manufacturing development and facilitating contacts with other fashion start-ups and people in similar circles. The mentoring and support from the team has been very useful in regards to marketing and other fundamentals of successfully operating a young business. The connections I have made through the programmes I attended with them have been extremely helpful for the growth of my business plan and there is no limit to the help and support the team is willing to provide even further.
Taking part in the Spark Awards helped enormously as each session gave me an appreciation of an aspect of operating a business that I did not consider previously. The people and the sessions helped realise the business by giving me the right knowledge, professional experiences and a support network to provide an environment to develop the business in areas that are fundamental for a start-up. During the process, I met like-minded individuals in fashion start-ups and people in similar circles, who I am still collaborating with till this day. Being a recipient of the Spark Award I was able to put the business in motion by sourcing materials and developing a manufacturing process that made me realise that I had the support and belief to make this happen. The programme gave me motivation and milestones that I would not have had without taking part.
I could not recommend more strongly to take part in their programmes and workshops if you have a business idea that you would like to pursue. It was an invaluable learning experience for me and I am in a stronger position to kick start my business and take off on my entrepreneurial journey.
What are your next steps?
Next moves are establishing Seijaku within the market, creating brand awareness in a manner that is effective, but reflective of Seijaku’s image and finalising the first collection. Platforms of choice will be online fashion publications. Products will be sold through Seijaku’s official website, found through the Instagram page. At some point in time, I would like to have a concession within Dover Street Market, however, for now, I am focussing on the online channels and building a reputation for my brand. Season 1 collection will be showcased at the F/W fashion show in Oxford when coming back to Oxford in Autumn, which coincides with the launch of the website.
What Success Mantra or message would you like to leave for our readers?
The limitations of success are determined by your outlook, change your mentality for better results.
