Author: Faculty of Business and Law

Read Danielle’s story to understand how she was captivated by the practical ethos of the TE programme and how this laid the foundation for a professional career driven by authenticity and diversity

A captivating conversation

When Danielle was considering universities, she was initially interested in a business management course, however, her path took an unexpected turn when she ventured into the Team Entrepreneurship (TE) hub during a UWE open day. A conversation with a TE student revealed how the course pushed them out of their comfort zones, sparking her interest in gaining practical skills whilst also focusing on self-development. She was captivated by the concept of “learning by doing” and knew it was right for her to challenge herself in ways a traditional course might not.

Driven to learn and lead on diversity

What made TE stand out for Danielle were the immersive experiences that transformed the classroom into an open-plan office environment.

“The team coaches were amongst our peers, like a colleague, so there wasn’t this barrier of hierarchy between students and staff”

This collaborative approach fostered an atmosphere of self-driven learning and critical thinking, allowing students to extract practical insights from real-world business situations.

During Danielle’s time on the course, she began multiple projects, including “Female TE”, which involved networking, event planning, and inviting female entrepreneurs to the university to share their experience and knowledge with TE students. Danielle worked with international TE academies and ran workshops for international TE students visiting the UK. Danielle extended her reach to schools, promoting TE to aspiring sixth form students.

Forging a path from strong foundations

After successfully graduating from UWE with a first-class degree, Danielle ventured into the professional realm. Her journey began with roles in London as a graduate project executive. Danielle learnt about managing geographically dispersed teams, working with complex projects, agile product development, and strategy planning.

In her current position as a Product Owner at Future PLC, she has made several remarkable achievements, including playing an instrumental role in driving 1,000% YOY in revenue growth thus far in FY23 for products within her responsibilities.

“My next steps would be to get a promotion to senior product manager, I think that is my short-term goal, alongside continuing to develop additional skill sets around product development.”

In Danielle’s journey, TE wasn’t just a university course; it was a foundation. The learnings in authenticity, diverse leadership styles, and the confidence she gained from TE have become foundations for her professional and personal values.

Find out more – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-sepersaude/

A story with entrepreneurial roots that demonstrates the unique way the TE programme can support the journey from concept to creation: read Andreas and Joe’s’ blog

Entrepreneurial beginnings

Andreas’s journey into the world of TE was driven by his desire to build something meaningful from the ground up. Unlike traditional degrees, which often focus on theoretical knowledge, TE offered the opportunity to create something real. Growing up in an entrepreneurial family environment further encouraged him to join the TE course. 

For Joe, the course offered a pathway to continue his entrepreneurial journey after already starting a few businesses before joining the TE course. The practical approach and potential to see his own ideas materialize were what drew him in. 

Concept to creation

Joe and Andreas’s shared mentality around making ideas come to life brought them together on the TE course. As friends and business partners, they immersed themselves in brainstorming sessions and developing creative business concepts. Their ventures included market stalls at Christmas fairs and waste management ventures. Attending networking events further expanded their horizons, connecting them with local business owners and sparking the idea for their future venture, SOLVI. 

SOLVI was created out of conversations with business owners. Focusing on technology for small and medium-sized industrial enterprises, they started with basic design and social media work. Today, SOLVI collaborates with some of the largest manufacturers in the UK, providing innovative marketing solutions. Both Andreas and Joe credit their “can-do” attitude, accountability, and a supportive TE environment for their journey from ideation to execution. 

From learning to looking ahead

Joe emphasizes the importance of execution, a lesson he carries with him, along with the recognition that TE provided a safe space to learn and experiment.

“From TE, having that element of self-accountability and having your whole team around you to keep you accountable was really important for me.”

Andreas Philippou

One of their proudest achievements is the ability to continue SOLVI after graduating from TE without needing secondary employment and their committed determination and belief in their vision kept them moving forward.

“Reality is, last 3 years there have been massive challenges. If we were not slightly insane, we would have given up!”

Joe Stallion

Looking ahead, Joe and Andreas envision SOLVI as the leading marketing agency for manufacturers and industrial businesses in the UK. Their goal is to modernise business marketing by building a larger team that understands the changing landscape of marketing.

Find out more – solvidigital.co.uk

Mentee to Mentor: Read Brent’s blog about how his lamp upcycling business gave him the impetus to study TE, launch a Dragons Den competition and realise his skills in bringing out the best in people

Flexible approach to study 

Brent set up his first business upcycling lamps to earn money to attend university. Growing up in Guernsey, he was unable to access UK student loans. He chose to study Team Entrepreneurship in part because he felt it would allow him to continue to run his business and earn money while he studied.

In 2019 during the second year of his studies, he sold his first business and co-founded Voltric, an electric vehicle rental subscription service with his business partner who had recently completed an MA in Marketing at UWE.

A network of mentors

He says the flexibility offered by the course allowed him to take the time needed to grow his business while still being able to receive a degree. He also benefitted from the support offered by the programme both from mentors and coaches as well as financially. Brent has since come back to serve as a mentor for current TE students to continue this network of support for the next generation.

One of Brent’s most memorable moments from his time on the course was arranging a Dragons Den style pitch with five of the coaches and mentors on the programme and convincing them to invest in his business. He’s been able to maintain those relationships and still has them on board as mentors and investors to this day.

Helping others to help themselves

Four years on from its founding, Voltric has grown to team of 14 people and have successfully raised three funding rounds to nearly £1,000,000 and report a yearly revenue around £350,000.

Brent says one of the most valuable things he’s been able to take away from his time studying Team Entrepreneurship has been from the modules on coaching skills where he learned to help others to arrive at their own answers. He still utilises these skills regularly with his employees.

“Me and my business partner are probably the least educated people in the business, but we employ brilliant people who do a fantastic job and one of my key skills is bringing that out of them” 

Find out more – https://voltric.co.uk/

Read Charlotte and Zoe’s blog about how they turned a passion for beauty and a desire to utilise practical experience into a beautiful campus-based business.

Beautiful beginnings

Charlotte and Zoe met each other in 2020 during online learning. Zoe had always been interested in the beauty industry and owning her own business. She found Team Entrepreneurship and felt it could help her achieve her goals, especially due to the support provided by the course. 

Charlotte was studying a different degree at UWE but decided to transfer to Team Entrepreneurship, drawn to the more hands-on and practical approach to learning. 

A campus-based business model

After finally meeting in person, the pair decided they wanted to open a salon on the UWE campus. They successfully applied for funding from Student Ventures, which offers funding to student run businesses, and gained access to space to set up their business. 

The Beauty Bar opened in November 2021 and has been open ever since, growing a loyal clientele of students, staff, and members of the wider Bristol community. In early 2023, they gained approval to open a permanent salon on campus. 

A booming business

Zoe says Team Entrepreneurship has built a strong foundation of skills she’s needed to succeed as an entrepreneur. She’s especially appreciated the support of her mentor and coaches during her time studying. 

‘TE gave me practical experience of how exactly you should run a business. It helped me create strong problem-solving skills and gave me the confidence to open my own business knowing that I can deal with anything that comes my way.’ 

Zoe Jenkins

Charlotte says studying Team Entrepreneurship and running her first business was challenging but immensely rewarding, and she’s grown and learned so much during the process. 

‘UWE has helped me become a self-sustained entrepreneur. Not many start up business owners are able to pay themself a graduate wage straight out of university’ 

Charlotte Roberts

Since graduating, Charlotte and Zoe have stayed on campus as co-owners of The Beauty Bar and are currently in the process of opening a brand-new salon they’ve helped design.

Find out more: Instagram – @thebeautybarbristol

Read Leyth Hampshire’s blog to hear about how his practical learning on the TE programme, international experiences and a life changing moment shaped the career path of the wellbeing entrepreneur.

A global outlook

Leyth’s decision to join Team Entrepreneurship (TE) was driven by his attraction to practice-led learning that the TE program offered. After initially starting a Business Management course at UWE, he quickly realized that the traditional approach to education wasn’t his fit. 

After graduating from UWE in 2018, Leyth pursued a master’s degree in Entrepreneurial Management in San Francisco, followed by periods in Shanghai and Barcelona, where he dived into the study of entrepreneurial development. He then went on to work at the European union in the startup division, helping founders and supporting small scale sustainable ventures.   

Personal challenges

Leyth’s career then took an unexpected turn due to burnout and a subsequent stroke which left him in a coma for 7 days. This pivotal moment sparked his interest in exploring the connection between wellbeing and human thriving. 

“Where I wanted to be when I graduated is completely different to where I am now”

In response to this newfound passion, Leyth founded Emergent Purpose, a wellbeing company that combined meditation, yoga, movement, and mindfulness practice workshops. He also co-founded Emergent Men, a platform focused on therapeutic exercises to support men’s mental health and to combat suicide. These ventures show Leyth’s commitment to wellbeing and his dedication to encouraging meaningful change.

Leadership, learning and lifegoals 

More recently, Leyth has taken on leadership roles. As the Head of Creation at a community living space project in London called And Soul, Leyth helped raised £10 million in funding and is designing a wellbeing programme for this community.

Leyth’s journey from a student to a wellbeing entrepreneur is inspiring. His time in the TE program equipped him with important skills in people management, communication, and navigating complex situations—all of which have become integral to his career.

In the future, Leyth wants to transform And Soul into London’s largest co-living and co-working space, with goals to scale across the UK. Leyth also plans to return to academia to train as a psychotherapist and work towards a PhD. Leyth’s ultimate aspiration? To receive an MBE!

“I have a big vision which is to receive an MBE!”

Find out more – https://www.leythhampshire.com/

Co-owners of Target Student, Andy Francksen and Guy Thurlow talk in their blog about the value of learning from real life and building a start-up that is just the first step on an entrepreneurial journey

Real world learning

Although Andy Francksen and Guy Thurlow studied on the TE programme at different times, they connected when Andy used the TE network to find a business partner. Guy helped run the business and based his dissertation on it.  

The flexibility of the course allowed Guy and Andy to complete research with industry and take the time to find gaps in the market to capitalise on those opportunities. Guy’s dissertation then became a living project, and in true entrepreneurial style, a start-up was born. 

A life-changing lesson in growth 

Both Andy and Guy describe their experience of UWE TE as life-changing.  

“The most valuable learning for me was developing a growth mindset” 

Andy Francksen

Guy loved that coaching was such a big part of the TE programme, although admits it took time to get used to it and see the benefits. He found real value in practice-based learning, developing real skills in the context of real business projects and saw the unique benefit of this opportunity in a safe space. 

“The support from TE and UWE was amazing when setting up our business and since graduation. That’s very special and has been instrumental in getting us to this point”

Guy Thurlow

The value of giving back 

Target Student is now the UK’s first digital advertising network in student halls, with big brand clients such as Disney, PureGym and Unilever. Andy and Guy reflect that they learnt so much in a very short space of time and the experience of studying and running a business is both challenging and rewarding.  

“Our plan is to create, grow and sell a powerful and profitable business to give ourselves freedom to pursue other ventures in the future”

They are already giving back and helping less experienced employees to develop; something instilled in them on the TE programme. Both recognise the pivotal moment of raising an investment round and the validation that comes with realising the journey from being complete newcomers to having people invest their trust and funds.

Find out more – www.targetstudent.com

A journey fuelled by innovation, connection and experience: read Natalie’s blog to hear about why it’s important to keep an open mind and influence your own learning journey

Innovative learning

Natalie came to Team Entrepreneurship wanting to put theory straight into practice, and experiment with business ownership and teamwork.

As a student, Natalie found UWE Bristol to be an immensely supportive environment to study, with great spaces around campus from brand new rooms to a well-stocked library. Despite the impact of being online for a year and a half, she felt the TE team coaches always tried to be innovative about how to keep everyone engaged throughout the uncertainty.

Exploring through connections and experience

Natalie enjoyed speaking with the range of mentors, exploring business ideas with other students and being coached by each of the TE Coaches, who always made her feel heard. She also enjoyed being able to dictate her own learning, making use of the recommended reading but also supplementing this with her own reading around personal goals.

Throughout her time on the course, Natalie was surrounded by a wealth of coaching and business experience from the academic team, mentors, and local business owners. These connections have endured, and she credits this network with her current career success.

An ongoing journey

Since graduating from UWE Natalie has left a long-term career in hospitality to pursue a career in Commercial Management within the Tech/Rail industry at a Bristol SME, One Big Circle. Since starting in her role as Commercial Manager, she has learned an inordinate amount around financial management, contracts, sales proposals, and scaling a business. A year on she still thoroughly enjoys learning something new every week.

“I am so glad I went through the course with an open mind of what life after graduation may look like and that a career is a journey rather than a destination!”

Natalie says TE prepared her well for where she is now by giving her a range of transferrable skills including leadership skills and goal setting.

William Fletcher and Morgan Edmondson are co-founders of Discovry, a social media marketing platform that helps small businesses to automate their content marketing processes by generating AI-based content.

If at first you don’t succeed…

Morgan and William’s time on TE took them through four different start-up businesses. One of those resulted in designing a workflow engine which turned into a major building block for their future Discovry product.   

“I had a strong interest in growing a tech company and wasn’t interested in going to university, but when I saw the TE course, I was impressed by the access to a huge network, infrastructure and funding via the incubator at Launch Space”.

William Fletcher

They pivoted towards marketing, as a solid area of expertise already within the team and built an application that on launch, had 300 users overnight, showing clear demand for marketing paired with automated workflows and AI.

A successful launch

Discovry launched in early July 2023 and has already gained 10 paying clients ranging from construction to coaching companies. The next milestone will be a funding round to raise £250k of private investment to grow their development and technical resources.

Work is now underway with a number of marketing agencies, to explore how Discovry can help them to increase their client base and manage clients more effectively.

“Since graduation we’re still engaged with UWE and working specifically with the Head of Marketing.  We’re in the BRL Launch Space at Bristol and we have access to a workspace and shared incubator in TE as well”.

Morgan Edmondson

The value of support

Both entrepreneurs are clear about where they’ve come from and what they’ve gained, and cite the focus on enterprise and entrepreneurship as being most important when choosing their course.

“I think the biggest benefit of UWE is that there’s no door you can’t go through and everyone is so open and willing to help”.

William Fletcher

“I find the access to anyone in the university and how quickly you can get to speak to them is incredible and definitely specific to UWE, having listened to the experiences of others”.

Morgan Edmondson

Find out more: www.discovry.co.uk

Finding my strengths: Read Oliver’s story which highlights how the TE Programme helped him identify his strengths and utilise them to make the right career choices 

Business in Bristol 

Oliver was drawn to Team Entrepreneurship due to the Bristol location, and practical assessment elements of the course. With a keen interest in building a business, he was also attracted to the entrepreneurial nature of the course. 

The early days 

Oliver enjoyed his time on the course, living in Bristol, learning from the coaches, and having access to real-world connections. He built strong relationships with others on the course, relationships that have lasted far beyond his time at UWE.  

“As a student during some of the early years of Team Entrepreneurship at UWE Bristol, it felt exciting to be able to influence the development of the course content.”  

During his time on the programme, Oliver learned a lot about himself including his own strengths and weaknesses and was able to grow a skillset which has continued to shape his career as an entrepreneur. 

Finding the right fit 

After graduation, Oliver initially started a marketing agency which had some small successes, but ultimately wasn’t ready to be his own boss and work on his own terms. He then spent some time in new build real estate sales, during which time he was also exploring getting into mergers and acquisitions.  

“From my time on TE, I had an understanding that this would be a better fit due to my strengths in high-level strategic decision making as opposed to operational management.”

Oliver knew these strengths would work to his advantage as a Managing Director of an established company with middle level management in place. From there, he successfully acquired a manufacturing business in May 2022. Since taking over, he has doubled the revenue of the company and is now in the process of acquiring 2 new companies.

Find out more: Instagram – @olivermgilbert

Anton Bailey is the owner and founder of record label and music events company, Invicta and Events Manager at Lakota, Bristol. Read his blog for a masterclass in being adaptable.

Finding the right balance

Having always been entrepreneurial, Anton knew he wanted both the university experience and to play to his strengths. When drawn to Bristol for the music and nightlife, he found Team Entrepreneurship at UWE Bristol and knew it was exactly what he wanted.

An ability to adapt

Fuelled by his passion for DJing and music Anton founded his first business, a live music events company called Invicta. When the pandemic stunted that industry, Anton kept the brand alive by turning it into a record label, to engage and connect artists and music lovers online.

Anton reflects that this period gave him time to invest in the brand and grow the number of Invicta followers from around 800 to over 10,000.

“This huge community meant that during the easing of lockdown restrictions, Invicta could scale up from smaller events and then branch out to UK wide venues with sell-out success.” 

One of his proudest moments is when Invicta won Best Newcomer Label at the international Drum and Bass Awards in 2022. His dream is to run a festival and music-wise, to work with bigger artists and achieve bigger releases.

Secrets of success

On the TE course, Anton found self-motivation was rewarded with independence and trust.

“UWE had a great attitude; when Invicta took off at the same time as assignments were due, I was supported by extra time, encouraged and the business activity was valued. After all, it’s part of the course!”

Anton credits networking with other TE alumni and working hard in DJ and venue promotion roles with growing his knowledge and experience. TE gave a solid base of transferrable business skills and the ethos to learn and adapt.

Find out more: Instagram – @antoninvicta