Westminster Enterprise Network hosts end-of-year employer engagement event

The event started with an informal discussion with students who have participated in a range of WeNetwork programmes, including: Elizabeth Ola, a Business Management (Entrepreneurship) BA Honours student and founder of cosmetic brand TRU SKN; Isatta Cesay, a Music Business Management MA student and founder of music label and consultancy Doctored Sound; Marc Fegarsky, a Marketing Management MA student and co-founder of design and marketing studio Schparkly Creative; and Wren Fegarsky, fellow co-founder of Schparkly Creative. The students discussed how the programmes have helped them along their journeys of entrepreneurship and what they hope to achieve next.

Kimberly Taylor, Marketing Manager from business support service the Rebel School, then shared her experience of working with Westminster students as part of creative live briefs, whereby students are presented with a real-world business problem and asked to come up with solutions. The Rebel School has worked with WeNetwork to support two modules across the Westminster Business School: Innovative Consultancy Solutions, and Social Media and Content Marketing. For the former module, they tasked the students with designing strategies to encourage more students to start businesses and/or ‘side hustles’ using the School’s methods. For the latter module, students created new content that targeted audiences from marginalised communities without falling into clichés and stereotypes. The collaboration successfully delivered new input and informed real business solutions for the Rebel School to pursue.

After some networking and refreshments, Dr Irene Brew-Riverson, Senior Lecturer on the Business Management (Entrepreneurship) BA Honours course and leader on the Innovative Consultancy Solutions module, spoke via video call about creative live briefs, the value of students being entrepreneurial in their coursework, and how WeNetwork has helped create live briefs working with external business partners.

Speaking about the event, Dr Brew-Riverson said: “The WeNetwork event gave stakeholders an excellent opportunity to share their experiences and the benefits gained from collaborating on various projects. Hearing from industry partners like the Rebel School reinforced the value of live briefs for our students, staff and the companies involved.”

Linsey Cole, Director of Business Engagement at Westminster, said: “We were delighted to welcome some of WeNetwork’s employer partners to the University for this event. The support our partners give is a vital part of our enterprise and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The event was a great opportunity to bring our partners together to share experiences and successes and to identify opportunities for future collaboration. Employers spoke positively about the impact our students had on their businesses, through solving live briefs and providing fresh perspectives on business problems.”

Amber Islam, a Business Management (Entrepreneurship) BA Honours student who took part in the event, said: “The experience of tackling a creative live brief with the Rebel School enhanced my learning experience. I was able to build a professional relationship with the project lead and better understand how small and medium enterprises operate, which ultimately improved my business competencies, such as my entrepreneurial self-efficacy.”

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