02 Nov From Student to Entrepreneur
With financial problem hitting every student hard, some are turning to creating there own business to support their university life style.
With all the financial issues students face its not hard to see why some of them would turn to self employment. The fact that the student loan its self will cause the average student a large amount of debt in the future, most students find the loan isn’t enough. Its not uncommon for students to have a part time job while studying.
House hold name businesses have been developed by students entrepreneurs. The fitness wear brand Gymshark was created by former student Ben Francis who this year had made over a £100 million from selling performance clothing. Ben started his business at 19 while he was at university. In this case Ben’s business became so successful he was able to quit his part time job as a pizza delivery guy, and even dropped out of university to focus on his business full time.
In a interview with the BBC, Ben stated “I’d wake up and go to Aston University, then finish uni early afternoon, and work at Pizza Hut from 5pm till 10pm. I could answer emails in between deliveries. Then I’d go home and sort out the website, and design new products.”
Of course starting a business for anyone isn’t a easy task for anyone, especially busy full time students. Certain enterprises such as Herbalife offer people such as students the chance to run there own business and be there own boss selling Herbalife products, effectively becoming a entrepreneur. Emma Mills from Herbalife was discussing the benefits the enterprise could offer young students who want to be their own boss and entrepreneurs, “when I started using the program in the first three month it added £250 to my income. I’m sure for student, this extra income would come in handy for life at university.”
“You only really need to spend three hours a week selling the products to get a decent return, which is idea for students. And this means they wouldn’t have to spend the majority of their weekend working and could concentrate on studying” she added.
Universities them self encourage and support students to start their own business. Most universities in London offer their services to students trying to become a entrepreneur, such as LSBU, UCL and Imperial College.
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Team at LSBU along with there Student Enterprise team offer a range of support to fellow LSBU students. These include providing mentoring, practical skills workshops, supporting start-up and accelerator programmes, lessons in talk delivery, as well as providing live consultancy projects, internships and placements.
Its no surprise some students have a go at being a entrepreneur with debt that they gain from university. According to a study done by the Guardian using data from Student Loans Company that debt from student loans has increased to £100.5bn in 2017. This was a 16.6% increase from 2016 figures of £86.2bn. With all the support provided to students, it seems that being a entrepreneur maybe a worth while investment of free time.
