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Business Star emerges from E-Factor Grand Final

Thursday 25 March 2010

The University of East London’s flagship enterprise competition, E-Factor, came to a close last night when Owen Morgan, an MSc Architecture: Advanced Energy and Environmental Studies graduate was crowned winner at the Grand Final for his winning idea, Cambridge Solar.

On the day of the Grand Final, the top ten finalists presented their business plans to a panel of judges and five finalists were subsequently selected to proceed to the event where they presented their ideas to invited guests. Audience members, who had the opportunity to pose questions to the finalists, were they asked to vote for their winning choice.

Owen, whose idea focuses on creating solutions to energy problems by using solar power, was delighted with the result and his first prize of £10,000. "It was quite nerve racking really, the anticipation of waiting to find out who had won. On finding out, it was fantastic really, I wasn’t expecting to win with the quality of the other competitors, and I started to worry. I’m delighted to have won and equally excited about starting up the company."

The winner was announced by the Director of Knowledge Dock, Rob Moss who felt Owen Morgan was “A very worthy winner, one of the best presentations, he had done a lot of research that showed through when he presented to the audience and it was interesting to see how it changed, from when it was entered to the judges and presented to the audience. The other contestants shouldn’t get despondent; I hope they carry on working with their mentors and business advisors. What we have given them today is the chance to present in a stressful environment, where the adrenaline is running and their mind is going blank and they have to sell the key points of their company.”

The other competitors had taken a positive experience from the e-factor and were looking forward in their businesses. Paula Denby, whose business Pop Up earned her second place said “I’m definitely confident that I’m going to carry on, this competition was helpful to get all the mentoring. I would tell others to go for it in terms of entering the competition, it helps you realise how well you can do things and at what level.” She wasn’t the only one who felt the process had been worth it as Terry Igharoro who came in third place said “I’m far from disappointed, upwards and onwards, it’s the beginning of e-shepherd, like Shakespeare said “the world is a stage and everyone plays their part in it."

Many of those who attended the event were impressed by the level of professionalism of the contestants. Vice Chancellor of UEL, Patrick McGhee claimed "I was struck by the passion and enthusiasm of all the finalists. I think this year’s event was fantastically successful. I got the impression all the contestants learnt a great deal from the competition, entrepreneurship is not just about passion and enthusiasm or having a clear business plan although all those things are important. It is about resilience, it is about bouncing back, you have to recognise sometimes your business will take a set back through no fault of your own, but you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep on trying. Everyone who has ever been a successful entrepreneur has never given up and that is the key."

When asked about the winner of the event he said he was "A very worthy winner. One of the things I’m very positive about is UEL entrepreneurs that have been trained here or on a programme of study here, are going to do well and spread the word around the world. We have 47,000 graduates of UEL that we know about and many of them are entrepreneurs running their own business. We want to hook those guys up with our current entrepreneurs to make global networks and global supply chains, as a university we are very committed to making sure we maintain our values of inclusion, diversity and helping those people win against the odds. In order to do that we need to think globally and harness all the talents within the university, so it is a two-way street."

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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