Networking & Nibbles

Our fourth annual ‘Networking & Nibbles’ evening was held at the offices of Calls9 in Leeds City Centre and hosted by Dr Stephen King.

Pete Mills, the director of Calls9 is a former graduate of the University of Leeds and is now the Director of Digital Studio Calls9, which works with a variety of businesses and brands both in the region and nationally. Pete is also one of twenty-five Enterprise Ambassadors who work with CEES and our students offering expertise advice, inspiring future entrepreneurs and mentoring in an engaging way.

We had a record breaking turnout with attendance from academic staff, SPARK, students and enterprise ambassadors: Lou Henry, founder of opposite café, Pete Mills, founder of Calls9 and Jonathan Straight, a prolific Leeds based entrepreneur.

Let the fun begin! Students were initially involved with an ice-breaker activity ‘People Bingo’ which was great fun and allowed all staff, students and ambassadors to get to know each other. The atmosphere suddenly got really competitive, however it was a great laugh and really did break the ice. Congratulations to our winner Effiena Mesquitta (MSc Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Student).

Secondly, Lou Henry, founder of Opposite Café provided students with background information on her life, success story and struggles. Through her inspirational journey, students were able to ask questions and have a think about the difficulties and problems that may occur during a start-up, as well as overcoming obstacles and how to keep up the motivation as Lou did. Following this, students were set an activity on how to increase food sales at Opposite Café and while enjoying delicious food (from the Opposite Café, of course), Lou was able to chat to all groups and gather ideas. It was interesting for our students to work on a real-life business case and have the founder there, listening to feedback and thoughts. Winners through their enthusiasm and creativity pictured below with Lou Henry.

Finally, coffee tasting! Session led by Ollie Sears of North Star coffee roasters. Students and Staff were provided with flavour descriptions provided on tasting cards, and had to guess which coffee was which based on the description and what they had been told about it. We had loads of fun tasting coffee and eating great food!

By hosting informal social networking events, the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies are putting students’ academic learning and knowledge from our modules into practise. Students have the opportunity to network and speak to experienced entrepreneurs, bringing their passions and ideas to life. They were also able to informally meet with academic staff such as Andrew Eaglen who is a member of CEES’ Associate Faculty, an experienced business owner and enterprise academic. Students took advantage of the opportunity to discuss all things business and start-up with our immensely successful ambassadors.

If you are interested in attending events such as this in the future, make sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter @UoLCEES, where we post about upcoming events and opportunities available to students across all faculties.

Any questions, feedback or just want to get in touch? Contact the CEES Centre Administrator Natalie Jackson via our contact page here.