Entrepreneurship education and support
Kingston University fosters innovation and provides entrepreneurship education and training for University staff, students and graduates, as well as fledgling businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the area. We also lead several regional networks devoted to supporting entrepreneurship.
Students at Kingston can take part in competitions, awards programmes and activities designed to foster entrepreneurship and encourage enterprising young people to get involved in business. We support graduates as they start new enterprises, and students developing their enterprise skills
Many activities provide opportunities for SMEs to discover the next generation of business leaders by working alongside talented students and Kingston University alumni in start-ups, projects and master classes.
Whether your enterprise is commercial, social or public, you’ll find a variety of events to get involved in, including master classes, competitions, newsletters and learning materials. See our events diary for forthcoming events.
Enterprising Business Awards – calling all entrepreneurs, creative and curious students and recent graduates of Kingston University
Do you consider yourself to be the next Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerburg or even maybe Gok Wan? Are you interested in developing a business or a freelance career? Join the Enterprising Business Award programme to receive expert mentoring from the Entrepreneurship Team and our resident entrepreneur Simon Hulme, successful in business, and now an Angel Investor. There is the opportunity to receive financial support to get your idea, project or career off the ground. We will provide you with all the tools you need to start or grow your business/idea.
To register your idea, please fill in the online form.
Kingston Entrepreneurs
Kingston Entrepreneurs is a student-led society which helps budding entrepreneurs meet like- minded people and develop enterprising skills and behaviours. The club works with a number of organisations, and provides support for students wanting to start their own business and develop their employability skills. To find out more about the Society and workshops, seminars and networking events visit www.kingstonentrepreneurs.co.uk.
The Entrepreneurship Experience
The Entrepreneurship Experience is a series of events held with the Faculty of Business and Law, which feature panel discussions with entrepreneurs. Designed to provide insight to the entrepreneurial life, behaviour and motivations on chosen themes, each event features two entrepreneurs and an academic.
Questions and answers and a networking reception follow, with opportunities for students, academics and business guests to mix. This popular annual series of five events from November through to March provides an opportunity to hear from and meet other entrepreneurs.
View our events diary to see forthcoming events.
WestFocus (WF) Entrepreneurship Centre
WestFocus is a collaboration between seven Universities based in South and West London, and the Thames Valley. The Entrepreneurship Centre initiative helps entrepreneurs, community groups, academics, students, alumni, and local businesses through many projects, competitions and events.
See our WestFocus website for more information.
Higher Education Entrepreneurship Group (HEEG)
HEEG is a regional network of academics, staff and students based in Higher Education Institutions across South East England. It aims to increase the capacities and capabilities of Higher Education to develop more enterprising students and more graduate business start-ups through up-skilling staff and sharing best practice. The network is led by Kingston and funded by SEEDA.
We run quarterly events for sharing information, approaches, and experiences. For more information and to view upcoming events, see the HEEG website.
KnowledgeLondon
KnowledgeLondon brings together higher and further education staff involved in knowledge transfer across London and beyond. Our 1,000-strong membership attests to the importance of connection between universities and society.
We run events in a variety of formats on an approximately monthly basis, providing opportunities for professional development and knowledge sharing in this vital area. The network was founded with funding from the London Development Agency (LDA), and is now financed by the support of university subscriptions.
For information about our upcoming events, see the KnowledgeLondon website.
STEM UEN
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths (STEM) University Enterprise Network (UEN) is a partnership between SEEDA, NCGE, BAe Systems, Microsoft and six south east universities; Brunel, Kent, Kingston, Royal Holloway, Portsmouth and Surrey.The aim is to develop collaboration between industry, higher education and the public sector and will address enterprise and technology development needs.
