Westminster Enterprise Network (WeNetwork), the University of Westminster’s entrepreneurial community, held an entrepreneurship Demo Day in collaboration with Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) on Thursday 17 March.
The Demo Day showcased and awarded funding to innovative, impactful and viable businesses developed by students and alumni from the University of Westminster in London and WIUT, the University’s partner institution in Uzbekistan.
The event had an impressive panel of judges including Akmal Salikhov, Game Developer, Usmon Rakhimjanov, Task Manager at UNDP, Diana Alice Florescu, Founding Partner & CMO at Grai, and Jimmy Desai, Commercial Lawyer. The event was welcomed by Bakhrom Mirkasimov, Rector at WIUT, and Stephen Wallis, Director of Transnational Education & Senior Academic Co-ordinator at Westminster.
Eight applicants, four from Westminster and four from WUIT, were selected to pitch their businesses and products to an online audience. The judging panel awarded prizes from a £5,000 prize fund to the pitches showcasing the greatest potential for growth. In addition, the audience voted for their favourite pitch from each university, and pitches with the greatest number of votes were awarded an Audience Choice Award of £1,000.
The winners were Diyorjon Latipov from WUIT with UniCode in first place, Charlotte V. Donivar from Westminster, founder of ARC-TEC in second place, and Cheska Rojas from Westminster, who is the founder of Hello Robotics in third place. The Audience Choice Award went to Mokhinur Botirova from WIUT with the Start-up E-Med and Cheska Rojas with Hello Robotics from Westminster.
Talking about the Demo Day, Stephen Wallis, Director of Transnational Education & Senior Academic Co-ordinator at the University of Westminster, said: “It was very exciting to see students and alumni from both Westminster and WIUT participating in the inaugural Demo Day. I know all those involved will have learned much both from participating in the event itself, and from each other, and it was wonderful to see the wide range of project pitches from both sides. Congratulations are due to all those who participated in such a fruitful event.”
Find out more about WeNetwork at the University of Westminster.
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