The CEDAR Enterprise Fellowship 2012

Following the extremely successful 2011 Scheme, Anglia Ruskin's Centre for Enterprise Development and Research (CEDAR) has now launched the 2012 Enterprise Fellowship Scheme. CEDAR is managing a fund worth £35,000 to distribute as support for early career entrepreneurs in the Cambridgeshire area who have a great business idea and are seeking to turn that idea into a sustainable business.

The opportunity

The CEDAR Enterprise Fellowship Scheme 2012 is a great opportunity for anyone (who is not an undergraduate student or Anglia Ruskin staff member) with a business idea in Cambridgeshire to get access to funding support, mentoring and resources, through a prestigious scheme sponsored by a private benefactor and supported by Lord Ashcroft International Business School.


The Process

The Scheme is split into three phases.

The first phase, which closes at midnight on Saturday 30 June 2012, involves applicants submitting one page about their idea and another page about themselves. These should be sent by email to Dale Coss. The submissions will be assessed by a panel of judges made up of academics and entrepreneurs in the CEDAR network.

The successful phase one applicants will be invited to meet the panel to expand on their two one-page summaries further in the summer of 2012.

The applicants who proceed through phase two will be assigned a mentor from the judging panel to assist them in progressing their idea further in order to be in a position to formally pitch to the judging panel before 14 December 2012.


The Package

The winning entrants will receive the following:

  • A share of the total funding available (£35,000)
  • Mentoring support from a member of the judging panel during and after the competition closes
  • Assignation of CEDAR Enterprise Fellow and entry to the CEDAR Enterprise Fellowship network
  • Specialist training and development support
  • Access to the Start-up Lab, a new business incubation centre at Anglia Ruskin University
  • Legal support and advice
  • Advice from the expert academic and business-owner CEDAR team

The Judging Panel

This year the judging panel includes:

  • Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason - Director of CEDAR
  • Professor Roger Mumby-Croft - Professor of International Management Practice
  • Dr Walter Herriot OBE - Director of the CEDAR Entrepreneur in Residence network
  • Peter Taylor - Managing Director, TTP Group plc
  • Ben Mumby-Croft - Senior Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University
  • James Barlow - Chartered Accountant
  • Dr Geoffrey Butlin - CEO of TranscenData Europe Ltd
  • Mark Layton - Chairman and owner of Incomes Date Services
  • Julie Horne - Business leader, consultant and coach


Contact

For any further information or queries please contact Dale Coss:

T: 0845 196 2344
E: dale.coss@anglia.ac.uk


The Results 2011

Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason

Director of CEDAR

“The quality of the applications was very high and it is tremendous that we have been able to help four completely different business ideas. The funding and the other support given to each winner will give them a great opportunity to successfully progress their ideas.”

Four applicants were given funding and on-going mentor support:

  1. A novel advertising concept called StreetSight was the first to benefit from the scheme, receiving £10,000 in September 2011. Stefan Weniger and his business partner John Sweeney have a contract with a major telecommunications company to advertise on their telecommunications boxes throughout the country. This idea has been tried and tested in Germany for the past 10 years. The telecommunications company gains income from each cabinet advertised on as well as getting their cabinets maintained. StreetSight Ltd gains income from businesses that want to advertise on the cabinets.

  1. Hamish Symington and Tom Catchesides have been awarded £12,000 to develop their innovative business management software for photographers, called Light Blue.

Hamish Symington

Light Blue Software

Tom was working as a wedding photographer and had developed a system to run his business; enough people were impressed by it that we formed Light Blue Software to bring it to market.

Three years on our software has reached v3, with a sizeable market both in the UK and around the world, and we have built a reputation for both top-notch software and excellent customer support.

We are constantly developing our software to add new features and bring it to a wider audience, and the CEDAR funding and mentoring will be invaluable for the plans we have in 2012, helping us to speed our product development and bring other people on board.


  1. Emily Mackay of Microgenius was awarded £10,000 to progress her social enterprise idea of linking investors with people keen to install a green energy microgenerator on their property or in their community. Microgenius aims to become the online marketplace for domestic and community microgeneration projects. It will be a place where investors can pool funds to offer capital to those installing renewable energy technologies, such as wind or hydro turbines, in turn realising environmental, social and financial benefits.

Emily Mackay

Microgenius

To have a team of established entrepreneurs supporting me at such as early stage, not only financially but with their time and expertise, is a golden opportunity.


  1. Joe Faulkner-Edwards has been given £18,000 to help Whey Forward Health Industries launch their first product. Taking advantage of new whey processing techniques, Whey Forward Health Industries has developed an advanced nutritional supplement, which can aid the production of the antioxidant Glutathione, which has been shown to enhance immune function. The formula will also promote bone-mineral density and reduce tiredness and fatigue

Joe Faulkner-Edwards

Whey Forward Health Industries

Entering the CEDAR Enterprise Fellowship Scheme was one of my best decisions! Obviously, this financial input will give our product launch the healthy boost it needs, but perhaps more importantly, the unrivalled level of advice and expertise offered as a result will help me grow the business to where we would like it to be.

Dr Walter Herriot OBE

Member of the CEDAR Fellowship judging panel

This was the first Enterprise Fellowship Scheme run by CEDAR and to be able to help four new enterprises with funding and mentoring support is fantastic. I am already looking forward to the 2012 Enterprise Fellowship Scheme.


The judging panel

In addition to Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason and Dr Walter Herriot OBE, other members of the judging panel included Dr Geoffrey Butlin of TrancenData Europe Ltd and Peter Taylor of TTP.


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