Making it Happen

There’s a lot of talk about whether or not people should go to university or straight into setting up their business but to me the two aren’t mutually exclusive. I wouldn’t have come across the idea for the wristband if I hadn’t been studying medicine. University is a great way of getting ideas, skills and experience. What’s been most helpful has been the support from Dundee.

Christopher is developing a new wearable technology wristband that detects very early-stage deterioration in the condition of patients. Snap40 aims to save lives, reduce unnecessary hospitalisations and lead to earlier patient discharges. the wristband monitors patient information one hundred times a second and interprets this data using patent-pending technology which can pre-emptively warn healthcare staff of a negative change in their patient’s health in real time.

Edinburgh Napier University believed in me and accepted me onto the MSc in Business Management with Entrepreneurship which I graduated from in 2009. In 2013 I founded MaRobert’s an Edinburgh-based brand specialising in East African sauces. Currently we produce three mouth-watering sauces – hot, medium and fruity which is perfect for cooking or dipping.

We are the first and only producer of East African sauces in the UK and the ethnic cooking sauces market represents 92% of the market for cooking sauces as a whole.

I am very grateful to Edinburgh Napier University for providing and preparing me with the entrepreneur mind-set. I thank the University for giving the opportunity and preparing me for my journey, and life, of being an entrepreneur.

I launched Yomp immediately upon graduating from University with my ex-boss as a co-founder. Yomp is an employee engagement platform which improves health and wellbeing in the workplace – increasing productivity, reducing absenteeism and boosting staff satisfaction. At the time of writing Yomp has delivered lifetime revenues of over £1 million from a total investment to-date of £225K.

I owe a lot to my time at university, especially my varied involvement with the Scottish Institute for Enterprise. I went to their events, attended their week-long Bootcamp in Glasgow, entered their nationwide business plan competitions and became their campus representative too. If it wasn’t for SIE I’m unsure exactly where I’d be today. The thought of a quintessential “graduate scheme” where one can predict their career milestones over the next five years filled me with terror; whereas running a startup is entirely the opposite — only by pivoting and tweaking does one manage to survive what’s ahead.

I think there’re been a big shift in student perception towards entrepreneurship as a viable occupation. Enterprise societies are prolific and have played a role in this transition, alongside bodies such as SIE, TV shows like Dragons Den, additions to the curriculum and competitions like Peter Jones’ Tenner Tycoon I think there’s a myriad of factors at play. Which is awesome, as I look at the options available to my younger sister and the difference — in just a matter of years — is vast.

We first started RAW Film through the Prince’s Trust and then found further business support through QMU who asked us to be the first business based in their new Business Innovation Zone.

Being based at the University has allowed us to look for advice from our former film lecturers, who have years of experience working in the corporate market. This has been invaluable to us as they have given us guidance on the editing of some of our films and have in some cases even helped choose what projects we should take on in order to further our business.

QMU’s marketing team has done a lot to help us promote our business, which has resulted in us gaining some of our larger contracts. The marketing team promoted Agata’s win at the Scottish Baftas, which brought our business to the attention of Alzheimer Scotland.  We subsequently secured a contract to make a series of films for the charity.

It is great to be able to turn your passion into your career. This does turn you into a workaholic, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing if you love what you do.

RAW Film specialises in corporate PR films for online marketing and promotion. Clients have included NHS Scotland, East Lothian Council, Mental Welfare Commission and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Agata won a Bafta new talent award in 2012.

Hospital patients in remote areas of Dumfries and Galloway are able to return home sooner, thanks to an innovative idea that Susie Allison put into place, whilst on placement for her degree in social work with The Open University (OU).

Susie, aged 43, was on placement with Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Adult Care Social Work Services in Stranraer, when she noticed that care providers were refusing to take on work in remote rural areas. This was delaying patients’ returning home from hospital, as the patients could not receive the necessary after care.

Susie applied theory to practice, by mapping out the distance between the care services and the care users, and developing a week-long schedule to make visits more practical and financially viable. This meant that patients could be discharged from hospital sooner, because suitable after care was available.

Susie said: “The OU course helped me to put theory into practice. I had a great tutor, who helped me see the links between theory and practice, which helped my idea.

“The tutorials helped for sharing knowledge with each other and reflecting. I was able to apply the learning up to the minute on placement. The course helped to open my mind to look at different angles and different situations, and to apply that approach when on placement.”