On 22 July 2019 Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship’s first annual Henley ‘Greenshoots’ Seed Finance Award Scheme saw five businesses founded by Henley Business School students and recent graduates presented with £1,000 to help take their businesses to new heights.
Sponsored by Santander, Greenshoots aims to nurture and feed the green shoots of start-ups founded by students and recent graduates by providing those who are selected with an award of £1,000 in cash.
The Greenshoots award ceremony, held at the Entrepreneurship Hub, had five winners that were presented with their award letters (from left to right on either side of Mark Shepherdson in the photo):
- Omar Hamoudah, Founder of StrykePay, a mobile money account which enables cashless payments
- Rhian Burrell, Co-Founder of Osokey, a cloud-based data management solutions provider for the energy industry
- Sung Kim and Antonia Ajisebutu, CEO and CMO of QOOQn, an online marketplace for home-made meal sharing and catering services
- Charlie Reeve, Founder of Reeves of Henley, a premium country lifestyle brand supplier bringing signature clothing collections inspired from the British countryside
- Julia Kala, Founder of Bright Future, a social enterprise that empowers families with children living in poverty by helping the children reach their full potential and perform to the best of their abilities
The award ceremony opened with a talk from each of the winners, outlining their business and their plans for the future. This was followed up by a talk from Mark Shepherdson, Santander’s Business Relationship Director, who spoke highly of the partnership between the University of Reading and Santander. Mark praised the drive and initiative of the finalists and Henley Business School’s efforts to teach entrepreneurship in practice rather than just the theory. Mark presented the awards to the winners and the ceremony concluded with a lunch celebration.
Jurek Sikorski, Executive Director of Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship, said: “The Greenshoots Scheme has received a lot of interest from students and we are thrilled to be able to support five inspiring businesses and I want to congratulate the winners and thank Santander for its donation that has made the awards possible. We wish the businesses every success and alongside the prize money each will receive mentoring to help them on their entrepreneurial journey. Good luck to you all.”
The Greenshoots initiative is kindly sponsored by Santander.