Student enterprise information day

Enterprising students and staff from the University of St Andrews will be given the chance to make key business contacts at an information day later this month.

The Student Enterprise Information Resource Day will provide advice and information on business start- up’s, business development and commercial facilitation from a range of different agencies.

The event – to be held in Upper College Hall, St Salvator’s Quad, North Street, St Andrews at 1pm on Wednesday 30 April 2003 – will be attended by a range of agencies: Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE), Shell LiveWIRE, Small Business Gateway (SBG), Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT), Connect Scotland, Scottish Executive (SMART, SPUR, SCIS Awards), Society for Chemical Industry (SCI) Scotland, Young Company Finance (YCF), NESTA, Thorntons WS, Solicitors and Sales Tech. All high street banks will also be there to advise on business banking and the University’s Careers Advisory Service will be on hand to provide details about the Job Shop, summer internships and general careers advice. They also hope to be able to offer quick CV checks to anyone interested.

The event will begin with five of the key agencies – SBG, PSYBT, SIE, Connect and Nesta – giving a short address. Each organisation will then take up their stand where attendees can make contact and collect a range of promotional literature and other information.

The event is being staged by Student Enterprise, part of Research and Enterprise Services, and has been organised by St Andrews alumnus Christopher Venditozzi following his appointment as the University’s first Student Enterprise Officer.

Christopher said, “Thinking about starting up your own business is exciting. However, it can also be quite daunting, especially when you realise just how much time, work and effort is involved. Building key business relationships, networking and forming vital contacts is crucial. I have organised this event so that students (and staff) of the university who are involved in business start-up and commercialisation activities can meet and network with the right people, getting the right information from them and having a point of contact for the future. By doing this at an early stage, individuals are more likely to avoid some of the common pitfalls associated with starting-up in business or commercialising their ideas. As part of my role to stimulate and develop a new culture of entrepreneurship within the student community, this event will be a further step in encouraging and motivating those with bright business ideas and helping them make those all- important contacts. Also open to staff, it will provide a convenient one-stop shop for advice and information on everything from the financial and legal aspects of starting your own business to the business development and networking opportunities run by other support agencies. ”

Any students/staff wishing to attend must register on-line at: http://www.st- andrews.ac.uk/sie/emailform.php.

Issued by Beattie Media on behalf of the University of St Andrews For more information please contact: Claire Grainger on 01334 462530, 07730 415 015 or email cg24@st- andrews.ac.uk View University press releases on- line at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk Ref: studentinfoday/standrews/chg/14apri l2003