GCU students put entrepreneurial skills to the test in social enterprise business challenge
Students at GCU had the opportunity to put their business pitching skills to the test during the recent Social Shifters challenge, asking students to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.
The Social Shifters Student Innovation Challenge was set by global community Social Shifters, an online resource network which helps support entrepreneurs to launch a campaign or social business.
The challenge, hosted by GCU for the first time, asked students to come up with a great social enterprise idea which would then be pitched to a panel of judges. The winning idea would receive specialist support, expert 1-1 coaching and a £1000 cash prize.
GCU students Jaiden Choi and Siobhan Duff were amongst the five students who applied towards the challenge and despite the initial nerves, they both found the experience to be really beneficial.
Doctor of Physiotherapy Jaiden Choi came up with the idea of an activity based rehabilitation programme, which would help treat symptoms such as dizziness and imbalance. He explained: “It was a really great opportunity for me to put my ideas out there and share it with other people. I didn’t focus too much on the pitch itself, I really just wanted to make sure I could get my point across to see if the judges liked it.
I would definitely recommend that other students get involved in the future. It’s a really great chance to think outside of the box and try to plan out an idea that could help contribute to society.”
4th year International Events Management student Siobhan Duff pitched the idea for a sustainable fashion event series, which will run in partnership with her clothing-swap page “Swap Family”. Siobhan explained: “The Social Shifters Social Innovation challenge was a great chance to take my clothing swap page to the next step which is creating in-person events, now that we can!”
She added: “I felt that the pitch went really well! I was quite nervous to begin with, but it was really useful to have this experience as it helped me realise that I do actually know what I’m talking about. It was good to have that confidence boost and now I feel like I’m ready to try things like this more often.”
Despite feeling nervous, Siobhan’s pitch impressed the judges and she was chosen as the winner of the challenge. She said: “I would definitely recommend for other students to apply for Social Shifters. I already had an idea in the back of my head, but seeing Social Shifters made me realise that this was a chance to take this idea further. If anyone has any ideas, it’s a great opportunity to try and push it forward.”
Find out more about Social Shifters on their website
By Rachael McAlonan
Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media here