Success stories
A number of students and alumni from the University of Exeter have gone on to become successful entrepreneurs. Here you can find out about their journeys, the highs and lows of setting up their own business as well as about the training, mentoring and funding they received from the University to help establish their business.
Rob Holmes,
Geography, 1990
Business: The Gro Company designs and manufactures innovative products that help babies and small children to get a safer and better night’s sleep. We are building the world’s leading safe sleep brand for children.
"Get some experience working for a small business first. Muck in, roll up your sleeves and learn from other successful people and businesses. Then plan out your new business before jumping ship. Remember that proper planning prevents poor performance". Read more.
Henry Austwick,
BA History, 2011
Business: Producing high quality beers and providing people with the facility of installing microbreweries in their premises
"If you can’t sell what you make, the whole thing is a pointless exercise. When working in such an established industry as alcohol production, there are both statutory and production requirements that have to be adhered to. However, thinking outside the box provides exciting ways in which you can change conventional wisdom". Read more.
Charlotte Pike,
BA Hons in Spanish and French, 2007
Business: Award winning bakery company, which makes freefrom products
"Really, really be confident in your products before you take them to market. It could be an expensive mistake not to get this right first of all. The same is to be said of your business plan. Are you really going to make enough money to live off?" Read more.
Julian Haste,
BA in German with Italian, 1991
Business: Global market research supporting researchers
"Attitude and 'will not fail' temperament are keys to success. Being able to decide quickly and get on with it. Do not procrastinate! If it works great, if it doesn’t just get on and do it differently until it does. Constantly reshaping and refining your business to what your customer wants is key". Read more.
Matthew Rusk,
BA History, 2012
Business: Guitar Lessons Exeter is a music tuition business established in Exeter in 2009.
"I have learned a great deal from my experiences running of running a music tuition business during my time at the University of Exeter. I would not change anything if I could go back – the lessons I have learned when I have got it wrong are far to important. Most of all I have enjoyed every second of it so much I am only looking forward to the next challenge". Read more.
Asher Simpson,
BA (Hons) English Literature 2010, MA International Relations 2013
Business: Founder of Flex Newspaper Ltd at the University of Exeter Tremough Campus
"The most important thing to bear in mind with starting any new business is that there will be things you don’t know. The best thing to do to combat this is to ask as many questions as possible...Be inquisitive, be creative and above all reach higher, people are sometimes pessimistic and tell you that this or that can’t be done but if you have faith in your own ability then I’m sure everyone will be pleasantly surprised when you succeed. I firmly believe that with enough work you can achieve (almost) anything". Read more.
Sarah Owen,
Drama, 1993
Business: Pyjama Drama, drama classes for children, a franchise business with 25 franchises across the UK
"Take one step at a time; it’s much less daunting to view the development of your business in small sequential steps. And take advice at every step of the way - just make sure you spend the time researching who is best placed to give you the advice you need". Read more.
Delie Kastner,
BA in Marketing with Management, 2012
Business: Sell My Book is an online business that facilitates the buying and selling of new and/or used textbooks to students.
"I’ve learnt (and am definitely still learning) how to run a business by doing things myself. I am studying at the business school, which teaches you all the things you need to know with regards to business- accounting, marketing, strategizing, but in practice (this may not surprise you), running a business yourself is extremely different. The best way to learn is to try do it yourself. And that is the best advice I can give anyone. If you don’t try, you won’t know, and so you don’t learn". Read more.
Ali Golds,
PGCE, 2009
Business: We work with young people who either have, or who want to set up, their own businesses – usually in colleges – via educational programmes, mentoring, seminars and summer schools.
"Go for it! The experience is invaluable and whilst a lot of businesses fail, with the right (continual) planning, precise market research, and the right team, you really can make a success of it". Read more.
Lucia Beltrame,
BA Management with Leadership, 2013
Business: Provide support to primary school children in rural parts of Kenya. Particularly, the students of Loreto Primary School.
"Each new venture seems like an insurmountable hurdle when you first go into it. When we first started we struggled to design the structure of the organisation, then getting it registered and then maintaining it financially. But when you look back everything seems easy and the learning you acquire from each new phase will help you deal with the next". Read more.
Becca Todd,
Sports and Exercise Science, 2012
Business: Futbolistas gives girls the opportunity to have fun playing football whilst improving their skills & making new friends, in a supportive and engaging environment on our football camps. A large proportion of the proceeds is donated to charities across Africa.
"It all got tied together when I went to Ghana with the University’s Community Action group in 2010... I was blown away by the incredible experience helping out in the local orphanages, schools and clubs. It was one of those “life-changing experiences” that are so clichéd in gap year magazines etc! Easily the best thing I have done in my university life...So I tried to think of a way of giving a sustainable donation every few months to support such a worthwhile charity- and so, the concept of Futbolistas was created!" Read more.
Rishit Radia, Business Management , 2013
Jess Drew, English Literature, 2012
Enterprising Exeter students set up SIFE Exeter in October 2011, a social enterprise student society dedicated to nurturing the entrepreneurial skills of university students in a way that is both effective in developing their future careers and meaningful to the community. After only six months, SIFE Exeter have won multiple awards at the 2012 National Competition held at Canary Wharf in London: the Rookie Champions award, joint runner-up in the Wilkinson Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award, and third in the Bernard Hodes Group Annual Report Award. The SIFE team's University Advisors at the Cornwall and Exeter campuses also won the University Advisor award. Read more.
Harry Neale and Jesse Wilson,
Business School, 2014
First year students carried off the top prize in the AB InBev Best Beer Competition. The student teams were tasked with creating a concept for a new beer that refected the community and culture of their university as well as incorporating sustainability issues. Read more.
SCRUf Wear,
Nick and Jamie study Management with Marketing, 2013. Gareth studies BA Spanish, 2013
Business: SCRUf Wear is a fresh new clothing company bringing stylish, comfortable and affordable clothing to everyone.
"As first year students we had the same old problem of being short for cash. So one day we decided it was time to make some money while we were at University. Clothing is an exciting market, there will always be a demand for it and fashions are constantly changing. The great thing about it is there are no rights and wrongs, you can design whatever fashion you want, this flexibility appealed to us and we decided this was the market for us…SCRUf was born!" Read more.
Tom Carrington-Smith,
BSc Exercise and Sports Science, 2011
Business: UniSportOnline provide media coverage of University sport in the UK through our online platforms and live streaming. Think Sky Sports but for UK student sport.
"Having good mentors to give you advice and support has been really important for me".
Alastair Banks,
Computer Science, 2000
Business: Digital Marketing Company called Optix Solutions, an Email Marketing business called OptixMail, a gap year website business called TravellersConnected.com and a local job site for Exeter called YourJobsBoard.
"There are so many aspects to business. Sheer determination and hard work is certainly up there and in the early days its almost all about that. As your business matures its about innovation, marketing and separating yourself from the rest by working out how you can add value to others." Read more.
