Alumni and Friends

The Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards offer a fantastic chance to celebrate the success of student and graduate entrepreneurs.

Not only will winners receive cash investment to aid their ideas and business, they’ll also receive valuable press coverage through the recognition received by this initiative.

These awards are run by the Santander Universities Division, with GCU having been a member since 2009. Both students and staff continue to benefit from scholarships, exchange trips and a dedicated campus branch for the GCU community.

Each University is being asked to submit one undergraduate and one postgraduate business plan.

Prizes

Students (or alumni who have graduated within the last two years) are required to submit their business plan by Monday 17th March. Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies will then choose one undergraduate and one postgraduate business plan to represent GCU.   

Submission criteria are as follows:

• All applicants must be students at GCU or alumni who have graduated within the last two academic years. Applicants can be individuals or groups
• All applicants must own at least 50% of the business in question
• An applicant’s level of study determines their application category
  If the applicant has only completed or is currently completing an undergraduate degree they will need to submit their plan in the undergraduate category
  If the student has completed any further studies (Masters, postgraduate, PHD etc) then their application will fall into the postgraduate category
  If the business consists of more than one member then the highest level of study completed or currently being completed will be used to determine the submission category
• Professors/members of staff must not have any share in the business or business idea (this includes a financial share, intellectual property or formal advisory role).
• Entries must be submitted by the closing date and any late submissions will not be judged
• Business plans must be no more than 5 A4 double sided pages plus a maximum of two appendices no more than 1 A4 double-sided page each.  (The maximum submission can therefore consist of 7 A4 double sided pages)  Find out further information on the judging criteria here
• All business plans must be submitted in Arial, font size 10
• Business plans should be secured by paperclip only and should not be bound
• Applicants should submit one digital copy and one hard copy of the business plan by the specified date
• Applicants must also complete and submit a copy of the contact details cover sheet along with their business plan
• At least one member of the business must be available for the presentation at the final round of judging.  Santander Universities reserve the right to remove the business from the competition if this condition is not met.
• Any technical specialist attending on the Judging Day must be authorised to do so beforehand by Santander Universities

Entries should be sent to development@gcu.ac.uk and any questions regarding the awards can also be directed to development@gcu.ac.uk.