At Play: Fri, 27 Mar 2009
Banter-ing at Bath University
BANTER (Bath Entrepreneurs) is a student-led group with over 190 members and this year its activities have been sponsored by Visiion Ltd. Members enjoy the benefit of free weekly training sessions provided by experts and inspirational speakers. Their stated aims are to:
- Increase awareness of entrepreneurship within the University
- Support those with existing businesses and help foster new ones
- Provide training and skills for entrepreneurs at the University
- Facilitate the flow of information between entrepreneurs at social events
Our Managing Director, Gayna Hart, has been a mentor in the recently run Business Case Competition which was sponsored by Deloitte, Bath. The prize-giving was held on the 19th March following presentations by the five finalists.
Says Gayna, "I am amazed by the sophistication of the business propositions that the group have come up with, a few are ready to go to market and a couple have already generated some income."
The club also runs regular “SORTED” workshops on various aspects of business including many special guests from the local and national business world. Gayna spoke to the group about Communication techniques in March.
"It was a small informal group and we covered everything from rapport building to planning meetings" she said. "I wanted to give them a wide view of what was out there and available so they could deepen their knowledge through research."
Members of Banter and SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) organised a conference last November 2008 in conjunction with Cologne University which was attended by 100s of young entrepreneurs from across the UK and Europe. Gayna spoke there about her experiences of starting Quicksilva in 1999 and the lessons learned since then.
As a Director of eSkills UK which is a not-for-profit, employer-led organisation, licensed by government as the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology, Gayna is keen to be involved in developing skills in the student population at all levels.
Quicksilva are developing strong links with local universities and will be taking gap year students for the first time this year. As Gayna says "We are looking forward to the input from people with a different perspective on the business world."
