Development

Annual Fund Women’s Entrepreneurship Grants

Aim: To support women’s entrepreneurship initiatives to succeed

Amount: Up to £1000

Please click on the Engagement Form to express your interest in sponsoring a Women's Entrepreneurship Grant. You can set the criteria.

UEL has a large number of women students and graduates who have aspirations to set up their own businesses, but need support, advice and inspiration to do so. UEL is working towards creating a Centre of Excellence for Women's Entrepreneurship (CEWE) to encourage women to achieve their entrepreneurial potential. The Women’s Entrepreneurship Grants aim to celebrate and promote women’s entrepreneurship initiatives across UEL and the wider community.

Bunmi Olaye UEL fashion graduate

Bunmi Olaye has become an international success, pairing innovative techniques with creative flair to high acclaim. The label Bunmi Koko was founded in March 2009 by CEO Francis Udom and Creative Director and former UEL student Bunmi Olaye. The company was set up during the
sandwich year of Bunmi’s degree.

Over the past 17 months Bunmi Koko has exceeded its initial expectations and has grown from employing just two people to a team of thirty seven full-time staff and seven interns. Francis said: We are very grateful, particularly to UEL who have been our greatest sponsor to date. We have also had support from smaller corporations in the form of funding, sponsorship and day-to-day needs. The striking collections include Geisha’s Reform and Matriarchy, with couture and ready-to-wear styles. The popularity of the designs have earned a lot of diverse celebrity interest, including US First Lady Michelle Obama, former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, actress, model and singer Solange Knowles, South African musician Lindiwe Suttle, singer Jamilia and actress Michelle Williams. Intro Collection was the first collection made under the label. It was later showcased at Young African Fashion Week 2009 in Chelsea, where it gained an excellent reception.

Bunmi was personally invited to meet Nelson Mandela at his home after picking up the Best Emerging International Talent award at Africa Fashion Week and she was subsequently asked to dress one of his granddaughters for a national fund raising event in his name. In September 2010, at the London Fashion Week, Bunmi’s visually striking designs of her spring/summer 2011 collection Matriarchy were received with rapturous applause from the celebrity audience. The show was the pinnacle of a phenomenal year as well as a London homecoming. Bunmi Koko are also working on Aglaia, an illustrated history of women’s fashion, for launch early in 2012. They hope to be collaborating with UEL to design for the Olympic Games later that year.

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© 2011