Tom(In the Middle)

Tom Latchford is CEO of Raising IT, which is creating a technology platform to manage personalisation. Raising IT builds websites and online tools for charities to power marketing, fundraising and member management (service users, supporters and staff).

Raising IT is working with organisations such as UNICEF, Dyslexia Action and Children with Leukaemia to decrease costs, raise funds and increase efficiency.

Tom was an E-Media Consultant at charity consultancy Action Planning a position he took after graduatiing from oxford, and since starting Raising IT has won a number of awards for its success including WorldSkills Entrepreneur of the Year 2009.

Graham Mossop is the founder of a web design company called Design & Conquer, Graham is a graduate from the University of Cumbria.

Graham’s business took a new shape when decided to join the flyingstart three day courses which he said

“‘before I took the Flyingstart three day course, I didn’t really have any kind of plan or structure, I just knew I wanted to make websites for people and get paid. Now my business is a lot more structured, it has a purpose and I have new contacts and clients.’

Graham said the aim of his business is to create interesting and entertaining websites for businesses or artistes to set themselves Apart from the rest.

Julius Nkemdiche is the founder of Student Index, Student Index is a free classifieds website designed by a student, for students where users can sell items that they have collected while being at university or college.

Julius launched the Student Index website in August 2009.

Julius said that Student Index is different from other classifieds sites, as it actively promotes all listings through popular social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Delicious and more. This enables users to receive more viewing; selling their items faster.

Julius is currently studying at the University of Portsmouth, Hoping to get a degree in Enterprise in Computer Games Technology B.Sc

Matt Roberts is the co-founder of Bean2Bed, A company he started with his friend Irfan Badakshi in his second year at Aston University.

He grew up in Camberley which is in the South of England about 15 miles from Windsor Castle and an hour from London.

They originally came up with the idea for Bean2Bed (Bean2Bed provides space-saving, comfortable beanbags that transform into a bed in under 30 seconds) after a weekend birthday party, a bunch of friends sleeping all over and someone said he recalled ‘I wish I could flatten out this beanbag chair and sleep on it,’

After running with the idea for two years, Robert and Irfan decided to take the next step, meeting with designers, producing prototypes and making sure everything went according to plan.

They ended up maxing out their student loan, but finally Bean2Bed was launched at a home show in July 2005 at earl’s court.

The finished product is, in effect, a mattress filled with crumb foam that stuffs into corduroy, denim, faux suede, or imitation furs sack the size of a beanbag chair. One minute it’s a comfy chair in the corner, and then presto, it’s a bed.

They have since sold thousands of Bean2Beds, which cost $285 to $475, currently available on Amazon.co.uk and more than a hundred stores in Britain. Not bad for an idea that started from a weekend birthday party and the company has also won many prestigious awards such as:

2006 Winner of Shell Livewire’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Midlands)
2006 Birmingham Best Business Awards – Work-Life Balance
2006 Business Week’s Europe’s Best Entrepreneurs under 25
2007 HSBC Start-Up Stars Award
2008 Midlands Business Award
2008 Corkscrew Events Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Runner up for Best Business Idea
2009 Business Insider Magazine Top 42 Under 42

Bean2Bed’s turnover recently hit £3m

Abby Filer is a contemporary fashion, jewellery designer – maker and the founder of Abby Filer Jewellery and Franny & Filer.

Franny & Filer is a unique contemporary jewellery and craft gallery in Manchester, featuring a mix of ever-changing work by emerging and established designers, with quality and originality guaranteed.

She works with silver, enamels, printed aluminium and precious stones to create fresh, feminine and colourful pieces of jewellery.

She produces various ranges of handmade silver jewellery for galleries and shops across the U.K.

Abby graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in June 2006 with a Bachelor of design.

She said she gets her inspiration from the sixties psychedelic design era, and her love of bold geometric pattern and bright colour which is a regular subject right through her designs.

She showcases her products at places such as the Royal Exchange in Manchester, shops include Eliza Maccabe – Manchester, Studio 1- Manchester Craft and Design Centre and is currently exhibiting in the Shire
Hall Gallery, Including other galleries, stores and design centres across the UK.

She is also an active member of the Manchester Jewellers Network.

Emma-Jayne Parkes and Viviane Jaeger are the brains behind the Jackson Pollock-inspired umbrellas using ink that changes colour when wet.

The co-founders were studying product design and development at the London College of Fashion when they were told to rethink the 1950s overshoe – a protective shield to prevent your ankles from getting wet.

They were so impressed with the American’s artwork and creativity, they decided to take it further by exploring the use of colour, the different ways in which colour can be used, which then lead to them finding a way in which ink could be integrated to other materials in similar ways in which ink were been applied to clothes.

They soon approached an ink manufacturer about their product and had to wait a while being allowed to develop their ideas but after a huge amount of persistentence and hard work, they were finally allowed to start testing and they started on the development of the new ink idea which will work on fabrics.

During the time, they won a business plan competition organised by Deutsche Bank that gave them £1,000 and a business course at the East London Small Business Centre which could not have come at a better time they said.

They have also took part in the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship’s Flying Start programme which proved timely as they were days from launching the first trial collection of their umbrellas and ended up selling their first ever umbrella at the programme.

After being featured on the Sunday times after the release of the squids 100 limited umbrellas, it was sold out within 11 days.

They have since gone on to Design the costumes for the London Olympics handover ceremony in Beijing, announcing their first stockist Beyond the Valley, being commissioned by Tate to create an umbrella collection inspired by the Colour Chart Exhibition and having a collection sold at the world famous Art Basel, fair

Check out their website and follow them on twitter

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