UK Universities developing entrepreneurs [kwiqq]

Posted on | October 30, 2008 | View Comments

As global entrepreneurship week is drawing closer. I’m trying to think of topics which helped me to choose entrepreneurship straight after university. Well nothing better to start from the impact of university in my life.

At high school I discovered my love for C++ programming. It was fun because you can build programs which could do a cool task like booking tickets, act as a notepad etc. So I knew I have to get involved with programming. I choose Computer System Engineering because it had the words ‘Computer’ and ‘Engineering’. Sorry if this sounds really naive but apparently several students are unsure of what to expect at university. I was hoping to learn programming at the course but was wrong. Within the first term of year one i.e. 2 months, into university I realised that the only way I would learn programming was by getting industrial experience.

Although what university taught me was time management. How could I juggle my job, social life and get a good degree. My major issue from the start was that I couldn’t write reports. Although at university I was given an over dose of writing reports . It came to the point that I was writing atleast a 30 page report every week. In my opinion that sort of training is hard to find.

University Degree

The degree (certificate): Another bit which I never realised till I started my business was, how much does the certificate actually matter! Any interview (tv/newspaper) I have ever done, I’m asked the question ‘So what is your background ?’. What the journalist really wants to know is: why do you think you are the right person to start your business. It is more like a box which they want to tick. I’m not saying that university degree is absolutely essential to become an entrepreneur but it does make life easier. Its like doctors who put their degrees on their business card MBBS MSc (Honours)… You just feel really confident in the doctors ability !

Student Union

Student Union: I can’t emphasise enough how important university student union are to over all character building. No one seems to mention this in their stories. But in my experience people who are active in the unions do really well in their professional lives.  Working at the union is more or less replicating business life. The idea of 9am – 5pm university, then 5pm – 9pm union activity and finally off to attend a union event is similar to what we do in business. 9am-5pm office, 5pm to 9pm networking and 9pm till late socialising/ further networking.

Diversity: At university especially in the UK we are lucky to have diversity in opinions: political, lifestyle etc. This is another bit which really influenced my life. My first business mentor was a student from Libya. His father was a successful businessman and he had obviously learnt a lot from him. We use to spend weekends pitching business ideas to each other !

Setting up the business: I can’t underestimate how much the career development centre helped me to start Kwiqq. I know most university have similar departments to help students to secure a job. They introduced me to the enterprise group on campus, made recommendations and linked me to variety of people.

Overall I’m glad I went to university and seriously recommend it to all budding entrepreneurs !

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