Travel boss kicks of Entrepreneurship seminar series

Cardiff Business School’s 2016/17 Entrepreneurship Seminar Series will get underway next week, giving students and staff from across the University the opportunity to hear from local and national entrepreneurs.

The Entrepreneurship Seminar Series was established in 2015 by academics from the Business School’s Marketing & strategy section.

This latest series has been organised by Dr Shumaila Yousafzai, Dr Eleri Rosier and Dr Amy Yau, and is intended to provide real-world insight in to the practical aspects of entrepreneurship. For a student audience this complements the theory and class based teaching in this area and allows them to hear from successful entrepreneurs about the challenges and the opportunities of owning your own business.

The first seminar, to be held at 1pm on Wednesday 12 October in the Postgraduate Teaching Centre, will welcome Sam Mathews, Director of Creigiau Travel.

Sam spent several years working for a London-based consultancy firm but returned to Wales in 2012 to take over management of the family travel business. Bringing his professional expertise and experiences to the business, Sam introduced a range of new measures including clearly targeted marketing strategies, improved processes and modernised software systems. The business felt the benefit and Creigiau Travel doubled its turnover between 2013 and 2015.

Three more inspiration entrepreneurs will be welcomed to the School this autumn.

• Andy Ling, Founder of Perpetual Vehicle 2 Grid Systems: 26 October 2016

After a successful career in the Army and the onshore wind energy sector, Andy founded Perpetual Vehicle 2 Grid Systems in 2014. Perpetual has seen significant growth and market traction over the last 18 months, winning numerous awards and presenting their technology at the Global Cleantech Forum in San Francisco in 2015.

• Yaina Samuels, Founder of Nu-Hi Ltd: 15 November 2016

After overcoming heroin addiction, Yaina founded Nu-Hi Ltd to help others in her situation. Nu-Hi is a social enterprise company providing substance misuse education and training workshops in Cardiff. Its vision is to educate individuals, families and communities, empowering them to manage issues relating to substance misuse.

• Zoe-Lisa Blacker, Director of the Junior Group of Companies: 21 November 2016

Zoe-Lisa is the director of multi award-winning Café Junior, Junior’s Dining and founder of Gym & Junior in Cardiff. She has developed the Group over the last seven years whilst also bringing up three children. Zoe-Lisa was recently named number 1 in a list of ‘Mumpreneurs’ to look out for in 2015 and runs a Businessmum Bootcamp.

Dr Shumaila Yousafzai said: “We are immensely grateful to all of the entrepreneurs, recognising how valuable their time is, who have agreed to present to our students and staff. This kind of insight in to entrepreneurship provides a real-world perspective on the challenges of entrepreneurship and helps to bridge the gap between theory and practice.”

The seminar series has been supported by the Cardiff University Innovation System and is listed as a Cardiff Award recognised activity. The Cardiff Award is the University’s prestigious employability award.

Staff and students can find out more about the 2016/17 Entrepreneurship Seminar Series through the Intranet.