Andrew Ngai from Cornwall won the 'Do' Student Start-up Award for his start-up, Asia Delights.

Student Start-up Awards recognise excellence in entrepreneurship

On 9 March the University held its second annual ‘Student Start-up Awards.’ The awards recognise the success and dedication of students to Exeter’s Think:Try:Do programme and their start-ups.

Staff, students and external guests united to celebrate the accomplishments of nine impressive nominees each having made significant progress with their start-up idea. The overall winners were: Joshua Wang (Think Award), Patrick Burns (Try Award), and Andrew Ngai (Do Award).

Andrew Ngai from Cornwall who won the Do Award for his start-up, Asia Delights, an Asian grocery store and the first of its kind in Cornwall commented on his success: “It’s an honour to win this award. I have to thank those at the University that provided the necessary support to get the business going. The Business School in Penryn provided us with relevant contacts and advice on different strategies we can implement for our business. Expert in Residence, David Solomides advised us on how to design our business model, and which type of insurance to get for our business. They are always available when we need help.”

A keynote speech was delivered by Chris Howard, a prolific builder, investor, and founder of technology businesses that aim to push boundaries in both entrepreneurship and the creative industries. An Exeter alumnus, Chris is currently the co-founder & CEO of his fifth business – ‘The Rattle’ - which is the world's first co-working & accelerator ecosystem for the music industry, combining technology entrepreneurs, music making, and new-business model building in centres across the UK.

Chris first embraced true entrepreneurship at MIT by creating the venture-backed company behind the world's first crowd-sourced science novel with the goal of encouraging more young people into STEM. Based in London as the visiting Teaching Fellow of Technology Entrepreneurship at University College London, Chris mentored Alex Somervell fellow Exeter alumnus with his business venture One Third Stories. Alex said of Chris’ inspiration: “Chris Howard is hands-down one of the best people we have met in the start-up world. He has been fantastic in helping us in the transition from creating a product to building a business.”

For more information on Exeter’s Think:Try:Do programme visit the website.

Date: 22 March 2017