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Award for Entrepreneurial Students

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Students at the University of Chester who are on the Venture Programme, which supports and develops the next generation of entrepreneurs, are able to compete to win the Forresters Award.

The award, which helps students secure the trade marks needed to give their business a strong start, will be presented, along with other prizes generously provided by businesses involved in the Venture Programme, at an event on Tuesday 18th June at the De Gaulle Brasserie on the university’s Queen’s Park Campus.

Venture is an award-winning programme that gives students the skills, confidence, knowledge and connections to start a business or to pursue a freelance career.

Kirsty Badrock, Entrepreneurship Co-ordinator at the university, said the awards are open to students and those that have graduated in the last two years. “Through the university’s Venture Programme we hold a series of workshops to support students with their business ideas,” said Kirsty. “Kate Cruse from Forresters has visited the university for a number of years to talk to students about the importance of trade marks. The workshops help provide students with the skills, knowledge, confidence and connections to start their business.

“To be in with a chance of winning an award, students and graduates have to enter through The Pitch 2019, which is a bit like the BBC TV programme Dragons’ Den. Applications are shortlisted to 10 business ideas and these are put before a panel of judges. The winners receive funding from Santander Universities and then there are business prizes, like the generous one from Forresters.”

The Forresters Award is worth £1,000 and includes a two-hour trade mark consultancy along with £200 cash towards the applications fees to register a trade mark or design.

Kate Cruse, who is a Senior Associate at Forresters based in its Liverpool office, said: “I’ve been giving talks to students at the University of Chester for the last five years, but this is the first time Forresters has sponsored an award and we are really excited to get involved in the Venture Programme’s prize giving ceremony. Start-up companies can easily overlook the importance of IP protection, especially when it comes to branding, and can end up choosing a trade mark that is not free for use and registration.

“My talk focuses on the importance of IP from the outset of a business and encourages the students to protect their trade marks from day one.”