Northumbria student business wins regional contest

Business-savvy Northumbria University students will represent the North East in a national enterprise competition after winning the regional finals.

The students behind The Stable Cable Company scooped the Young Enterprise Regional Awards for their innovative product designed to protect iPhone charger cables from costly breakages.

The Young Enterprise Regional Awards showcased the best student businesses from Northumbria, Newcastle and Sunderland Universities.

The Stable Cable Company – made up of six final year Northumbria University students – was named joint overall winner and also received an award for the presentation of their product at trade fairs. They will now represent the North East in the national finals.

A fellow Northumbria student enterprise team, Get Lamped, which designs and sells contemporary laser-cut wooden desk lamps, received an award for its Investment Plan.

The Young Enterprise Regional Awards, which were hosted by Northumbria University at the Northern Design Centre, marked the culmination of a year’s work by student teams from across the region.

The final six student enterprises were welcomed by Peter Richards, Young Enterprise Regional Director, and Charlotte Angus, the entrepreneur behind Mulberry Dragonfly, specialists in change facilitation and learning for businesses.

Stephanie Bales, Director of Research and Business Services at Northumbria University, said: “The Regional Awards give us an opportunity to congratulate these enterprising students for their hard work and innovation. The success of their companies is inspirational and we wish The Stable Cable Company every success in the national finals next month.”

The Stable Cable Company and Get Lamped were set up as part of a Northumbria Graduate Enterprise module in association with Young Enterprise. The module gives students from a variety of courses the opportunity to run their own live business for a year.

The Stable Cable Company is made up of Product Design Engineering students Paul Robinson and Christian Usher, Engineering Management student Anthony Burnell and Fashion Communication students Ola Ebiti, Jodie Lancaster and Sarah Winslett. Get Lamped benefits from the talents of students from a mix of product design, business and IT courses: Sophie Hardy, Ben Chipping, Tom Briscoe, Christian Harvey, Richard Reynalds and Stephen Murphy.

“Taking part in the Graduate Enterprise module has taught me the demands of a real business and given me the confidence to think outside the box when new challenges arise,” said Ola Ebiti, Sales Director for The Stable Cable Company.

Ben Chipping, marketing director for Get Lamped, added: “I have never really been interested in business before doing this module. It has made me consider starting a business of my own after university.”

Northumbria University already has an outstanding reputation for supporting students and graduates to start-up their own businesses. It was named the UK’s fourth best university for graduate businesses after supporting more than 100 businesses which employ almost 800 staff and have a combined turnover of £54m. The University recently launched a £1.1m ERDF-funded scheme to encourage more students and graduates to start-up their own businesses in the region.

The Stable Cable Company will now go forward to the national competition in Canary Wharf in May.

For more information on enterprise and graduate business start-ups, visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/graduatesintobusiness.