MEC's 2022-23 Entrepreneurship Champions

Faiqa Mansoor
(Pharmacy student, Year 3)

I'm Faiqa, a 3rd-year pharmacy student here at Manchester. I joined EC programme at the beginning of my third year to learn more about entrepreneurship. My favourite event so far has been the Makes Market during Global Entrepreneurship Week as I got a chance to meet and network with people who started their own businesses and hear their stories which were really inspirational. Being in this role so far has taught me the importance of expressing your creative thoughts and ideas rather than suppressing them as you never know where they can take you!

Binjie Wang
(Information Technology Management student, Year 3)

Hi, my name is Binjie Wang, I am a final year student in Alliance Manchester Business School. I major in Information Technology Management for Business. I joined MEC since last year September and so for my favorite events is the table talk with NanoGraft's founder, Omar Haroun. Although, that is not my first time to meet a real student entrepreneur in MEC, but that was the first time I have the opportunity to sit down, listen to their story and talk to them. Omar's role as both a startup founder and a student is so fascinating, which allows me to follow understand what MEC wants to achieve and the purpose of our mission in MEC. Plus Omar is so funny and easy to talk to, and loves to share his experience in even some small things like how to balance course work and business. From these kind of events, I learned that entrepreneurship is both a combination of skills and a mental sprit. Entrepreneurship is different kinds of skills that has been required by operating a business, like the communication skills, influencing skills, business awareness or legal skills. And it is also a spirit, to stand up do things that others not dare to do, think things that others never thought. And this is the most valuable lesson I learned from the MEC.

Jamal Maghrabi
(Social Anthropology student, Year 3)

My name is Jamal Maghrabi, an undergraduate student in Social Anthropology. As part of The Stellify Award activities, I joined the Masood Entrepreneurship Center as an entrepreneurship champion in my third year of university (2022-23). The role came with a varied collection of exciting and hands-on entrepreneurship activities, but my favorite was The MCR Makes Market. The market brings together University students and alumni who started side hustles or small businesses to sell their products on campus. It was my favourite because I got to see real-life examples of students who pursued their entrepreneurial drive. This role helped me improve my public speaking and communication skills. It also thought me that entrepreneurship skills are important for everyone, not only for those who wish to start their own business.

Jinyu Zheng
(International Business, Finance, and Economics student, Year 3)

Hi! My name is Rick, studying management with international business economics focus at AMBS. I joined MEC as an Entrepreneurship Champion in my second year. My favourite event that I have participated in is the TEDx talk, where many individual entrepreneurs introduced their creative venture and the idea behind it. I find it inspiring and enlightening to my own enterprise. Through being an EC at MEC, I have learned many entrepreneurial skills and realized that entrepreneurship is more of a mind-set, anyone who proactively drive resources to an opportunity is an entrepreneur. 

Matias Ademaj
(Neuroscience with Entrepreneurship student, Year 2)

I’m Matias, a second-year undergraduate undertaking the Neuroscience with Entrepreneurship course. I applied for the Entrepreneurship Champion role at the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre in first year, and since joining I’ve had an incredibly positive experience with it so far. The position is quite flexible and not too time consuming to fit around any student’s schedule. My favourite event to be a part of was the Global Entrepreneurship Week where our centre organised a week’s worth of events including business talks from tech companies, banks, and social enterprises, as well as a Society Supermarket in collaboration with the Student Union.

Our role as champions was to promote and attend these events, but we were also encouraged to try some of the products on offer. The best thing about this role is getting to meet people who have started their own businesses and being able to spark up conversations with them in an informal environment. In my time volunteering for the MEC, I understood that successful entrepreneurs not only need to be able to communicate with others very well (for partnerships and grants) but also have the willingness to take risks and fail.

Nur Gayretli
(Management with Accounting and Finance student, Year 2)

Hi! I am Nur Betul Gayretli. I am a 2nd year student in Bsc (Hons) Management (Accounting and Finance). I have joined the EC Programme in my second year, semester 1.

I have enjoyed the Startup Spotlight events the most. One of them was with Omar Haroun who is also a young entrepreneur from The University of Manchester. This particular event was my favourite because I had the opportunity to hear from a young and ambitious entrepreneur that I can relate to. I gained insights on how to emotionally and intellectually approach to startup problems and find the most optimal way of resolving them.

So far, I have learned that entrepreneurship is about bringing your top skills such as marketing, networking, financial planning together to create a valuable outcome. With that being said, it is vital to reach your highest possible potential, and expand yourself in various fields and skillsets. Being an EC has helped me understand this and take necessary action forward. Hence, it has been an insightful and great experience!

Vlad Popescu
(Civil Engineering student, Year 3)

My name is Vlad and I’m a third year Civil Engineering with Enterprise student. I joined MEC in April 2022. The Entrepreneurship Champion role enabled me to attend lots of interesting and insightful events, but my favourite one was the Venture Further Awards (VFA) launch event. I had the chance to hear the stories of some UoM students and alumni that started their businesses while still at Uni and managed to scale them up by using MEC’s resources and competitions. I found their stories inspiring and motivational as they got me thinking about starting my own business one day. I feel that this role showed me that having an entrepreneurial mind set is beneficial regardless of the career path you chose to follow. This is because being entrepreneurial is all about being persistent, taking calculated risks and making the right decisions at the right time.