News: Regional Enterprise Awards 2009

Unibookclub.com take on Leeds Met – then take Leeds Met to the top


The Business Concept Competition from Business Start Up came to a close on Tuesday the 27th of January, with unibookclub.com winning over the judges on the way to a £2000 prize. The annual competition gives students and graduates the chance to win a cash prize to help develop their business idea.

Over 20 entrants completed a written application form (no more than 1500 words) with an overview of their business idea, with five finalists short-listed and asked to present their idea to a panel of judges. Unibookclub.com endured tough competition from the other four finalists, with each business providing unique aspects and well constructed pitches. Paul Rossington says;

“This money is going straight into the business bank account. We start trading later this year so success in this competition couldn’t have come at a better time for us”

Paul graduated from Leeds Met in 2008 with a first class honours Business Studies degree. Full time employment did not stop him from progressing with the Unibookclub.com idea, picking up a couple of business partners along the way. Paul enlisted the help of Chris Wilkinson, a software expert and Simone Tanda, whom he met whilst studying in Germany.

Unibookclub.com will be a new online eBay style shop specialising in student-to-student used book sales - a facility that will enable students to sell on their used course books for a fair return whilst also providing new students with the means to source cheaper second hand course books from their peers. Unlike its competitors, Unibookclub.com will not charge sellers a listing fee but will charge a single transaction fee upon the completion of a sale. Online discussion forums, accessible reading lists and peer review will add a unique social networking element to the site which will be launched in May.

Unibookclub.com then went on to represent Leeds Met against winning businesses from 10 other Yorkshire universities in the Regional Enterprise Awards which was held at Venturefest on the 11th of February. This showcase event, celebrates enterprise, entrepreneurship and innovation in Yorkshire and attracts over 3000 of the leading businesses and professionals to its exhibition each year.

Unibookclub.com were competing in a field with the region’s finest graduate entrepreneurs in an action packed morning of quick fire pitches where their business ideas were tested by an expert panel of judges. Paul & Chris overcame the competition once again with a confident pitch, answering the judges’ questions successfully and sharing the vision of their idea so effectively that the panel was unanimous in announcing them as this year’s winner. 

Unibookclub.com were awarded the £5000 cash prize in front of an audience of 300 people at the Venturefest awards dinner and also obtained  £5000 in kind PR and Marketing support from sponsor Green Communications who have been passionate in their support for young businesses and have supported this event for the past three years.
The experience is one that Paul feels will help the business immensely;

 “The standard of the pitches was extremely high in this competition. Winning the cash is an amazing achievement, but we can also take encouragement from this success as it shows that we have got a good idea that is worth pursuing.”

With a start up date planned for May 2009, Unibookclub.com have fully utilised the services and support available for young entrepreneurs in Yorkshire. Keep an eye out for www.unibookclub.com in the future.