As part of their final projects, the Claude Littner Business School (CLBS) students are spending three hours a week for 14 weeks going through the process of Venture Making, which begins with finding a problem and then devising a solution to it.

The first thing we look at is desirability. Is there a market? Will someone buy this product or service? Is there a need? Is there a desire?”

explains Stephen Fry, Executive Director of the Westmont Enterprise Hub.

The other key concepts of Venture Making are viability, feasibility, adaptability and sustainability. The process completes with a pitch, similar to BBC’s Dragons’ Den, to a panel made up of Stephen, investors and other local business entrepreneurs.

The University is full of bright ideas, but they are usually in one person’s head. A start-up does not go far with a ‘solopreneur’, so we look for three people to start a business together: a visionary, a hacker and a hustler. The roles are different, but they are all entrepreneurial,”

explains Stephen.

Liana Hayrapetyan, Module Leader of the Start-up Project and Senior Lecturer in Finance and Accounting at the Claude Littner Business School, says,

Venture Making provides students with a great opportunity to apply their academic knowledge. The most exciting part of it is that students can pitch their work to a panel of investors at the end of the programme.”

Joaquim, a student on the programme, says,

I have business ideas, but had no idea how to start a business. Doing this analysis of the desirability, the what, the who, the where, the when, the why and the how much, has helped so much in understanding how to start.”

• Find out more about studying BA Business and Entrepreneurship at CLBS
• Find out more about Venture Making at the Westmont Enterprise Hub