2008-2009 Year in Review

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 1

Letter from the President
Dear Oxford Entrepreneurs,

OE has a rich history of excellence in promoting student enterprise as the

largest and most active student enterprise organisation in Europe. After
seven years of growth, we continue to hold true to our mission of
encouraging and supporting student entrepreneurship by providing
inspiration, education, networking and the chance to learn by doing at the University of Oxford
and beyond.

2008-09 has been a benchmark academic year in terms of membership, governance,

programming, innovation and impact. The tangible impact of OE can be seen in the lives of
those who engage with the society and felt by the contagious energy that flows through our
events when like-minded, enterprising individuals connect.

I am delighted to welcome Jordan Poulton as OE’s 2009-10 President. Jordan previously ran
OE’s 2009 Idea Idol competition and sat as VP Governance; founded and led the Oxford
Investment Society; and, is the co-founder of CrewDates.com. Accompanying Jordan will be
the launch of the OE Enterprise Centre, Enterprise Wednesday networking socials, quarterly
alumni events for OE and Cambridge University Entrepreneurs members in London, and the
new Oxprentice programming line. Under Jordan’s leadership, I am confident that OE will
reach new heights – from strength to strength.

On behalf of the 2008-09 OE Committee, thank you to all of our sponsors, partners,
supporters and members. It has been an honour working with each of you over the last year.
Please enjoy the 2008-09 OE Year in Review, a window into the internal workings of OE to
see what it takes to run a world leading enterprise society from the inside out.

Sincerely,

Victoria Lennox
President 08/09

"The entrepreneur builds an enterprise; OE builds entrepreneurs." Thomas F.A. Whitfield

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 2

2008-2009 Review Highlights

Oxford Entrepreneurs’ key achievements in the 2008-09 academic year:

• Increased membership to 5,700 members;

• Signed up 90 percent of 2009 MBA class;
• Expanded alumni membership by 80 percent;
• Media attention from Spectator Business, The Financial Times, The Economist, BBC
Oxford Radio, and Fox FM;
• Ran 46 events;
• Featured seven renowned entrepreneurs including Lord Bilimoria (Cobra Beer), Tim Smit
(Eden Project), James Caan (Dragon's Den); and, Brent Hoberman (Lastminute.com);
• Piloted Ideas2Market programme that engaged 300 OE members and fostered the
development of 13 companies with a 90 percent participant satisfaction rate;
• Over 300 attended Idea Idol 2009 where we gave away £10,000 to winners Easy
Solution (£7,500), Foresight Pharma (£2,000) and Youth Bank (£500);
• Founded and incubated Oxford Women in Business (300 members; 6 events) and
Students in Free Enterprise Oxford SIFE Oxford (3 companies);
•
st
Planned for the development of the OE Enterprise Centre to open on July 1 ;
• Led the creation of the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs; and,
• Developed a new, effective governance model and innovative internal management
solutions.

November 2008 – Start It Up In a Day Bootcamp participants watching a keynote

address from Tim Smit, Founder & CEO of the Eden Project.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 3

About Oxford Entrepreneurs

Oxford Entrepreneurs (OE) is the University of Oxford’s

student enterprise society that relentlessly strives towards
excellence and growth. It was founded in 2002 to encourage
and support student entrepreneurship by providing students
with inspiration, education, networking and the chance to learn
the skills needed to succeed in business and start
entrepreneurial ventures.

OE is supported by its Founder and Senior Member Fiona

October 2008: Alec Dent signing Reid – Director of Oxford’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and
up new member at Freshers’ Fair Innovation – and a group of esteemed advisors from the local
business community; is governed by the Proctors of the University of Oxford; and, is run by a paid
sabbatical student president and a committed committee of some of the university’s most
enterprising students.

Operations

Governance

Jordan Poulton, VP Governance – OE is supported by its

Founder and Senior Member Fiona Reid – Director of Oxford’s
Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation – and a group of
esteemed advisors from the local business community; is
governed by the Proctors of the University of Oxford; and, is run by
a paid sabbatical student president and a committed committee of
some of the university’s most enterprising students.

To safeguard OE’s sustainability and to aid with succession, this year we developed a new
governance model composed of VP, Director and Officer posts to more effectively allocate
responsibility and authority for business processes and programming portfolios. This model has
greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation, has ameliorated previous
succession challenges, and has enhanced the quality and quantity of OE’s offerings by
expanding organisational capacity.

Management

Jon Krohn, VP Management – This year OE committed to

developing innovative internal management solutions to enable
us to focus on delivering exceptional programming and to
prepare the organisation for growth and change – e.g. shifting to
online content management systems; enhancing documentation
of committee meetings and decisions; restructuring information
management databases; and, implementing evaluation and
feedback mechanisms.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 4

Recognising that the OE Committee is the life-blood of the organisation, we also invested greatly
in developing the leadership capacity of the Committee. We did this by running a strategic
planning retreat at the beginning of the year, hosting skills-based workshops exclusively for
committee members (e.g. a leadership workshop with Oxford Innovation, a pitching workshop and
finance training with Rob Geraghty, and a creativity workshop with Eddie Pratt), running
committee socials, and providing members with opportunities to attend national and international
entrepreneurship conferences. Indeed, the success of this academic year is a testament to the
Committee’s commitment, efforts and synergy.

“Being part of the OE Committee was like being

part of a large team of specialists that shifted
forces to the tasks that needed the most
attention at the time. It was an incredibly
dynamic and motivating experience.
Communication was a feature that seemed to
be most responsible for the success of the
committee, guaranteeing that things always
went smoothly. The impact of that environment
was only topped by the individual committee
members’ passion and enthusiasm for what
they were doing. OE`s Committee works in such
a professional manner and is so well trained
that created such an enormous buzz. OE is now
only a few hundred members short from
becoming the largest student entrepreneurial
society in the world and is still able to preserve
the internal atmosphere of a group of friends.
Being part of the committee was a great
pleasure and a truly rewarding experience."

- Jochen Klingelhoefer, Membership Director

Top: Committee members during October Committee Retreat; Middle: Peter Baxendell and Oliver Bridge
welcoming guests to an event; Bottom: 2008-09 Committee
OE 2008-09 Year In Review 5
Finance & Sponsorship

Reijo Pold, VP Finance – As a student-run organisation, OE relies

on the generous support of our sponsors, with whom we work
closely to develop long-term, mutually beneficial and sustainable
partnerships. OE’s sponsors have a genuine interest in enabling
young entrepreneurs and promoting an entrepreneurial culture.
Indeed, they have each gone above and beyond financial
contributions by directly engaging our members and providing
additional in-kind support– e.g. Octopus Ventures bi-weekly Start-up Clinics and Placi Espejo’s
Idea Idol contestant mentorship.

On behalf of OE, and former sponsorship and finance directors Sanjay Budhdeo and Nikhil Shaw,
I would like to say a massive thank you to all of our sponsors, without whom we would not have
been able to impact so many lives by encouraging student enterprise. We look forward to our
continued partnership.

OE’s Gold Sponsors are Octopus Ventures, Deutsche Bank and Purple Media. Our Silver
sponsors are Linklaters, Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Oxford University
Careers Service, Science Oxford, Cmypitch.com, Business Link, Webmart UK, Business Boffins,
Bain and Mission Possible.

OE’s Idea Idol Gold Sponsors are The Big Oxford Computer Company, Credit Suisse, Cobra
Beer and Skype, and the Idea Idol Silver Sponsors are Henmans llp, Cmypitch.com, Octopus
Ventures, Purple Media, G&Ds, Oxfordshire Enterprise Hub, Oxford University Careers Service,
and OxCEI.

Membership

Jochen Klinglehoefer and Carly Becker, Membership Team

– In seven short years OE has grown to be the largest
university enterprise society in Europe. This year, we increased
our Membership to over 5,700 members – including
undergraduate, graduate and MBA students, active alumni and
external members from across all disciplines and industries.
We did this by means of developing an effective sales strategy
and undertaking Committee pitch training with Rob Geraghty
(Founder of the Wow Factor) in preparation for Freshers’ Fair;
developing a College Rep system across nine colleges (which was conceptualised by Radhika
Mehra); and, reaching out to OE Alumni. By expanding our programming beyond the business
school, holding events across campus, collaborating with other societies on events, and working
with Oxford Colleges and the Oxford University Careers Service, OE was able to gain exposure
to a broader range of students, providing us with the opportunity to challenge misconceptions that
entrepreneurship is just for business students or for those who want to start companies. For OE,
being enterprising is a way of thinking that crosses all disciplines.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 6

 Mike Moleschi, MBA Relations Officer – OE-MBA relations
reached new heights this year, beginning with a presentation by
OE`s Executive Officer Andy Young at the 2009 MBA Orientation.
OE signed up 90 percent of the 2009 MBA Class who are now part
of our community. Beyond membership, OE worked with Oxford
Business Network (OBN) groups on events and initiatives such as
Into the Dragon`s Den, an investment finance panel run jointly with
the Oxford Private Equity Network, and hosting social entrepreneur Dr. Ann Olivarius in
partnership with the Social Enterprise Network. We entered into publicity partnerships with the
Entrepreneur OBN, the Environment & Business OBN, and the Venture Fund Competition among
other MBA groups. We look forward to continued growth in OE-MBA relations.

Ollie Bridge, Alumni Relations Officer – Alumni re-engagement

was a key objective for the 2008-09 OE Programme. Through
partnering with the Oxford University Alumni Network via its monthly
newsletter and engaging existing OE alumni, this year OE expanded
its alumni community by 80 percent to 269 members. OE Alumni are
working in a range of industries, with many entrepreneurs in the mix.
For instance, Daniel Tenner of Woobius is radically shifting the way
that companies share their data with project collaborators; Cécile Galoselva of Ethical Property
has purchased £10m of real estate to rent to clients in the third sector; and, Morgan Murphy
recently launched a social networking site, Motorpool, for classic car enthusiasts. These
represent just a sample of the strong calibre of start-ups in
our midst.

May 8th saw the Oxford Entrepreneurs Alumni Social at

the Adams Street Club in London. This exclusive event
was attended by over 90 Alumni – including Stephen
Bardle, David Langer, Alistair Hann and James Uffindell
among other enterprising alumni – and featured a panel of
distinguished guests – including, Syed Ahmed (The
Apprentice and SA Vortex), Rod Aldridge (Capita) and
Ben Elliott (Quintessentially) – who shared insights from
their entrepreneurial journies. Growing and supporting the
OE Alumni Community will continue to be a priority for OE Ahmed, Aldridge and Elliott speaking
to OE Alumni in May 2009 in London
into the future.

Melissa Massey, External Relations Officer – This year OE has taken

strides to enhance its presence in the community by expanding its regional,
national and international ties. In doing so, we have worked with Business
Link, Oxfordshire Enterprise Hub, Mission Possible, Science Oxford, Make
Your Mark, Oxford Economic Partnerships, OxHub, Astia, SFEDI, and Oxford
Young Enterprise to increase our presence in the enterprise community. OE`s
President spoke to visiting delegations, young students and university
enterprise students about OE and its work; we sent delegations to visit our
partner societies – e.g. Cambridge, Imperial and Warwick; and, our members
attended high profile national and international conferences and events – e.g.
MIT Global Start-up Workshop in South Africa. We have also strengthened our ties with Oxford
Brookes Business & Entrepreneurship Club and worked with and mentored societies across the
country – e.g. Oxford Brookes, Imperial, London Met and Buckingham among others – advising
them on developing and growing the their society’s governance and programming. As the largest
university enterprise organisation in Europe, OE takes its responsibility to support student
enterprise seriously, at the University of Oxford and beyond.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 7

Marketing

Marketing

David Mok, Marketing – The Marketing Team is involved in every element of

OE`s operations and programming; from membership drives and informing
members of events to preparing the creative and media elements of
programming and issuing press releases. I worked closely with a talented team
– including Alex Dent (Marketing Officer), Shivani Mehra (Creative Director),
and Hamish Gregory (Visual Media Marketing Officer) – toward the objective of
positioning OE as a leading organisation supporting enterprise. We also
worked closely with Andy Young and Will Powell, who head up OE`s IT &
Communications, Rob Forbes from Octopus Ventures who assisted with PR
and radio interviews, our media partner Purple Media, and our print partner Webmart UK to
develop and implement an innovative and marketing strategy.

Several of our key marketing initiatives included: bolstering our presence at Freshers’ Fair 2008;
developing useful and cool gimmicks to brand OE across campus; creating an exceptional
Michaelmas Term Card to attract new members; enhancing the presentation of our Weekly E-
Newsletter and building it into a useful source for the latest enterprise opportunities in Oxford and
in the UK; ensuring that the website was updated with the latest news; effectively branding OE`s
Idea Idol 2009 and Ideas2Market programmes (i.e. logos, displays, t-shirts, gimmicks,
programmes, balloons, lanyards, etc.); and, using social media technology platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, Younoodle and LinkedIn to build OE`s online community. Through these
efforts OE received media exposure from the FT, the Economist, Spectator Business, City AM,
the major Oxford student papers, local Oxford papers, BBC Oxford Radio and Fox FM; our
website received over 1 million hits; and, our online communities are growing.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 8

Programming

OE’s 2008/09 programming focused on the areas of clean

technologies, internet enterprise, social enterprise,
enterprise investment and enterprising women,
responding to the interest of our members and critical
trends. This year, OE ran 46 events through our three
programming lines – Change Makers Speakers Series;
Ideas2Market; and, Idea Idol – and the programming of
our two incubated societies Oxford Women in Business
and SIFE Oxford. We launched the academic year with An
Enterprising Affair – an evening drinks social at the
Oxford Castle’s Living Room attended by over 400 OE ‘An Enterprising Affair’ – OE 2008/09
partners and members to celebrate the launch of the Launch
academic year (see photo right).

Change Makers Speakers Series

Matt Waszak, Events Director – OE`s trademark Change Makers

Speaker Series is the foundation of our programming, wherein OE
hosts leading national and international entrepreneurs to inspire our
members. This year OE hosted seven keynote speaker events
attended by more than 1,200 members. Speakers included: Tim
Campbell – Founder of the Bright Ideas Trust and Winner of the
Apprentice; Lord Karan Bilimoria – Founder & Chairman of Cobra Beer; Tim Smit – Founder
and CEO of the Eden Project; Julie Meyer – Founder & CEO of Ariadne Capital & Entrepreneur
Country; James Caan – Founder & CEO of Hamilton Bradshaw and BBC Dragon`s Den Dragon;
Brent Hoberman – Founder of Lastminute.com and MyDeco.com; and, Mike Mason – Founder
of Climate Care.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 9

 Partel Tomberg & Chris Evans,
Ideas2Market Team – This year OE
conceptualised, developed and executed
Ideas2Market, a 16-week programme that
provides students with the tools, resources
and network necessary to, well, to put it
simply, bring their ideas to market. The
programme involves panels, workshops, a day-long boot camp, mentorship sessions,
opportunities to network, an exhibition, and a competition to help students to start ventures whilst
at University.

In its inaugural year, Ideas2Market ran the following events: a presentation skills workshop
provided by Simon Henderson and associates from Bain and Co.; a team building session run by
Russell Smith of Business Boffins; a Start It Up In a Day Bootcamp led by Business Boffins for 40
of our most promising entrepreneurs; a mentorship programme that matched 24 ventures with
experienced mentors; the Into the Dragon’s Den panel with representatives from Business Link,
the Oxford Early Investment Network, NESTA and Octopus Ventures; an executive summary
competition; workshops with Mike Skidmore on creativity and innovation, Rob Geraghty on the
perfect pitch, and John Thompson on selling skills for entrepreneurs; and, a Start-up Exhibition
showcasing 40 of OE’s fastest growing ventures. Overall the programme engaged more than 300
OE members, 13 companies completed the programme from start to completion, and the overall
winner TeacherPlanit.com – a free, online, collaborative teacher resource that enables teachers
to share the best educational information between themselves and their students – won £1,000
toward their venture. The runners-up and winners of the free Cmypitch.com pitches were:
PACEM, Chikungunya, 31Favours.org, Little Tracker and Fitness For Everyone.

Overall, 93.8 percent of the participants thought that the programme was well organised and
useful. In particular participants enjoyed the Start It Up In a Day Bootcamp; the mentorship
programme; the range of events that provided them with direct contact with sponsors, speakers
and expertise; the quality of the participants and new enterprises; and, the overall organisation
and dedication of the team.

Many thanks must go to our sponsors of the Ideas2Market Programme: Octopus Ventures,
Linklaters, Deutsche Bank, Cmypitch.com, Business Boffins, Business Link, Webmart UK, Oxford
Centre for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Oxford Careers Service for making all of this
possible. Many thanks also go out to all of the programme speakers and mentors and in particular
Peter Miller-Smith and David Lind.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 10

Ideas2Market Case Study –
Interview with John Randall, CEO of Little Tracker

What does Little Tracker do?

“Little Tracker is a tracking service enabling parents to keep an eye on their children at all times using
wi-fi technology to detect exactly where they are in the event of the child getting lost/running off. The
service is totally free and is paid for by shops and brands purchasing advertising space displayed
digitally on the parents part of the tracking device.”
How was your I2M Experience?
“I2M has substantially helped Little Tracker to develop from just an idea. Through the various
meetings and availability of a personal mentor the program has opened many doors. We have gained
lots of useful contacts in the business world and several exciting opportunities have occurred thanks
to Ideas2Market. We are currently in talks with an already established company that have a similar
product already in Alton Towers and Chessington as a result of the start-up exhibition.”
Best Bit for Little Tracker
“The best part of the programme is the personal mentors, they really want to help you succeed and
are able to provide you with many contacts and innovative ideas. They are also realistic and won’t
give false hope if they don’t think something is going to work. Another great aspect to the programme
is the ‘boot camp’ which should definitely be applied for!”
What would you say to next year’s participants?
“Any new groups should definitely take part in the Ideas2Market programme even if they are unsure
about the feasibility of their idea or even if they don’t have one at all. It is an exciting and eye opening
experience and opportunity that should certainly not be taken for granted. The leaders of the program
are excellent and very willing to help at every stage.”

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 11

Idea Idol Competition

Jordan Poulton & Sarah Batty, Idea

Idol Directors – Idea Idol is OE`s
flagship ideas competition to
encourage students to think of new
enterprise ideas. After three months,
hundreds of entries and weeks of
training and preparation, we crowned
2009’s Idea Idols in a dramatic finale
on March 5th at the Said Business School. Out of the hundreds of entries submitted in January,
we selected the top 25 enterprise ideas to move onto the semi-finals and receive training from
Russell Smith (Business Boffins) on how to write an
executive summary and from Malcolm Sadler
(Henmans llp) on the legal considerations of starting a
business. Out of the 25 executive summaries, judges
from Oxfordshire Enterprise Hub, the Big Oxford
Computer Company and Henmans llp selected the 7
finalists to move onto the finals. The finalists received
extensive pitch training from Rob Geraghty (The Wow
Factor) and Placi Espejo (Oxfordshire Enterprise Hub)
in preparation
for the big night.
OE Committee preparing for Idea Idol 2009
Over 350 people attended to watch the finalists deliver
their 2 minute elevator pitches and face gruelling
questions by four judges, including Julie Meyer (Founder &
CEO of Ariadne Capital), Will Ghali (Marketing Director at
Cobra Beer), Ian Robin (Director of Skype for Business),
and Ian Carnegie-Brown (MD of Investment Banking at
Credit Suisse. Once the finalists had pitched their idea
Judges Meyer, Ghali, Robin and and faced tough questions, the judges went off to
Carnegie-Brown listening to the pitches
deliberate as to the winner.

The winners were fledging ventures Easy Solution

(£7,500) and Foresight Pharmaceuticals (£2,000), and
the People’s Choice Award winner was Youth Bank
(£500). The runners-up were Diagnosis 2U, AiFlex and
Teacher Planit. Easy Solution is an idea developed by
Camilla Oxley and Jochen Klingelhoefer. They describe
their product as an automated system that will change
how research is conducted in more than 100,000 life
and biomedical science research labs across the world. Idea Idol finalists after the big night
Easy Solution
was also awarded £2,000 in initial legal support from
Henmans llp. Foresight Pharmaceuticals, developed by
Phoebe Williams, is a hormonal gel that prevents the
transmission of HIV/AIDs, Human Papilloma Virus and
Herpes Simplex Virus. Youth Bank was pitched by Joyce
Meng. It is a business incubator and micro-credit
program that connects street youth (aged 15-25) in the
urban developing world with the skills, mentors and
resources to launch their own community businesses. All
finalists received free pitches with Cmypitch.com and
Cobra Beer Drinks Reception at Idea
Idol 2009

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 12

Skype and G&Ds gift packs.

We would like to once again thank Idea Idol’s gold sponsors: The Big Oxford Computer Company,
Skype, Cobra Beer, Credit Suisse. We would also like to thank you Silver Sponsors: Octopus
Ventures, Henmans llp, Cmypitch.com and Oxfordshire Enterprise Hub, as well as our valued
partners: Oxford University Careers Service, Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation,
Webmart UK, Business Link, Business Boffins, G&Ds and Purple Media. Without their support
Idea Idol would not have been possible.

Idea Idol winners Easy Solution and Foresight Audience awaiting Idea Idol 2009
Pharma with Mark Hall, CEO of The Big Oxford
Computer Company & OE Directors

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 13

Oxford Women in Business

Sarah Batty, Women’s Enterprise Director – Recognising the

disparity between the number of men and women engaging in
business and enterprise at the University of Oxford and the lack of
extracurricular opportunities for business-minded young women,
OE’s President conceptualised and initiated OxWiB and recruited
me as the Founding President of the organisation mandated to
inspire, educate and connect young
women in business and enterprise.
Supported by a talented committee – including Carly Becker,
Amber Graham-Watson, Katie Leviten and Chelsca Lord – and
mentored by Sue Stockdale of Mission Possible, OxWiB grew to
over 300 members in its first year and has run five-well attended
events; including, Sue Stockdale (Founder of Mission Possible);
Essie Weingarten (Founder and CEO of
Essie Cosmetics); Julie Meyer (Founder and
CEO of Ariadne Capital and First Tuesday);
Sara Berman (Fashion Entrepreneur); and,
the launch of Alison Bird’s new venture
Single Minded at the Corner Club. After a
first successful year, OxWiB is delighted to
announce that the 2009-10 President is
Amber Graham-Watson supported by our
new Senior Member, Alison Bird from
Oxford University Careers Service. OxWiB
will remain a part of the OE structure.

OxWIB event with Sue Stockdale on International

Women in Business Day in November 2008
SIFE Oxford

Peter Baxendell, SIFE Oxford Director –

SIFE is an international business
competition wherein student teams develop
socially and environmentally sustainable
projects to address pertinent social
challenges. Given that over 30 universities
in the UK have established SIFE teams, OE
opted to incubate SIFE Oxford to
complement existing OE programming. The year began with a training
session for Oxford’s team during a meet up of students from across the UK.
SIFE Oxford then ran a launch and networking session to get ideas flowing.
In its first year, 15 students and 2 mentors engaged with SIFE, leading to
the development of 3 projects: EcoHob is a project mentored by David Lind
that provides rural communities in Chad with economical and ecological
cooking solutions by means of reflective solar dishes that concentrates the
sun’s rays onto a cooking pot; the Sphere project, led by Ayaaz Nawab,
aims to promote community cohesion through international dance and
musical performances; and, the Carbon project, which was supported by
Tahsin Chaudhry, sought to develop a carbon footprint competition
between university colleges. SIFE Oxford also collaborated with OxHub to
run social enterprise exhibitions at the Vaults and Gardens and presented on a panel during the
University’s Alternative Careers Fair. After our first solid year, SIFE Oxford will continue to be
incubated by OE in the coming academic year.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 14

The National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs

With the belief that university enterprise societies are

an integral part of university enterprise networks – as
they have the capacity to be incredible catalysts for
enterprise and entrepreneurship – the National
Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE)
was conceptualised and catalyzed in the summer of
2008 by OE’s President, in close partnership with
Make Your Mark and the National Council of
Graduate Entrepreneurs. NACUE was founded in
December 2008 during a meeting of twelve university
enterprise society leaders from across the country
including: Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, London
Business School, Oxford Brookes, Kings College
London, Nottingham, Essex, Warwick, University
College London, London School of Economics,
Kingston, and Southampton. OE played a large role in
brokering the development of NACUE. Melissa
Massey and Peter Baxendell supported OE’s efforts
in planning meetings and Jon Krohn, Hamish Gregory
and Partel Tomberg provided event support. With the
backing of Microsoft and Tata, NACUE officially
nd
launched on May 2 in London, when over 80
enterprise society leaders convened from across the
UK for a leadership training weekend to enable them
to be more effective catalysts of enterprise at their
universities. OE will continue to be a driving force of
the NACUE network by facilitating collaboration and sharing best practices with other societies to
stimulate university enterprise across the country.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 15

Making an Impact

The tangible impact of OE can be seen the lives of the people who engage with the society and
the electric energy that flows through our events when like-minded enterprising individuals
connect. For instance, the joint winners of 07/08 Idea Idol – Altitude Medical and
www.zoombu.co.uk – went on to be the only two companies to receive funding at the 2009 SBS
Venture Fund Competition and this year OE companies won the Meltwater Business Plan
Competition, the MIT Global Start-Up Pitch Competition, and one of our companies – Tuxebo – is
heading to Silicon Valley for the summer having been selected for the YCombinator incubation
programme.

Looking at the current OE Committee as a microcosm of the society, start-ups developed include:
www.groupspaces.com, www.genderchecker.com, Inventum Technologies, Studiously Cool,
http://www.isepankur.ee/, http://www.rentaplace24.com/, www.crewdates.com, Genie
Technologies, Easy Solution, www.obwib.com, and www.scholarlyminds.com/ among others.
Passionate about supporting enterprise, past Presidents of OE have gone onto build start-ups
that support and enable enterprise – including, www.younoodle.com (Bob Goodson and Kirill
Makharinksy), www.enternships.com (Rajeeb Dey), www.seedcamp.com (Alistair Bell) and
www.nacue.com (Victoria Lennox). Committee Members Peter Baxendell, Jordan Poulton and
Sarah Batty were profiled as some of the most influential students at the University by the leading
student papers as a result of their engagement with OE; Rajeeb Dey, Victoria Lennox, Andy
Young and David Langer were profiled as four of eleven “rising stars of the business world” in the
December 2008 Spectator Business; and, our President won the Builder of Entrepreneur Support
Networks and Overall Enterprise Support Champion at the 2009 SFEDI (Small Firms Enterprise
Development Initiative) Awards.

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 16

This year OE contributed to the development of over 50 companies with 13 coming through its
Ideas2Market Programme – ranging from groups management and travel websites to fashion
events management and bio fuel technology ventures; increased its membership to 5,700
members; held over 45 events to inspire, inform and connect members; collaborated with over 75
private, public and tertiary organisations toward the objective of promoting student enterprise;
founded SIFE Oxford, which developed three social enterprise projects and OxWIB, which has
run 5 events in its first year with a membership of over 300 young women; and, has mentored the
start up and development of over 5 enterprise societies. Indeed, 2008-09 has been a landmark
year for OE in terms of membership, governance, programming, innovation and impact.

Looking Forward

OE has set in place some exciting plans for the 2009-10 academic year that are sure to bring the
society to even greater heights by providing increased opportunities for members to engage in
the growing OE community. Due to the hard work of our Senior Member Fiona Reid and VP
Management Jon Krohn, this summer OE will open the doors of the OE Enterprise Centre making
it the first enterprise society in the UK to have its own HQ and hub for entrepreneurs to connect,
learn and build their ventures. Moreover, the next academic year will see the launch of Enterprise
Wednesdays – bi-weekly networking events for Oxford students at G&Ds; quarterly Oxford-
Cambridge Enterprise Alumni Events in London for alumni from OE and Cambridge University
Entrepreneurs headed up by Michaela Wood; and, a new programme called The Oxprentice, a
rigorous project-based programme to enable students to develop entrepreneurial skills that was
conceptualised by Jordan Poulton.

Thank You

When I assumed the presidency last year, I did so with the understanding that I had some big
shoes to fill in following the likes of Bob Goodson, Kirill Makharinksy, Tahsin Chaudhry, Kulveer
Taggar, Rajeeb Dey and Alasdair Bell. This has been an incredibly challenging and rewarding
year for me both personally and professionally. I attribute the success of this year to the
dedication, commitment and outright passion of OE’s exceptional 2008-09 Committee. I would
like to thank our Senior Member, Fiona Reid for your ongoing commitment to the society; Rob
Geraghty, John Boyle, Placi Espejo, Alliott Cole, Mike Skidmore, Alison Bird, Amanda Nolte,
Peter Miller-Smith and Nigel Adams for your mentorship; Jon Krohn, Andy Young, Joe Kennard,
Emily Davis, Afua Osei, Dorothea Ringe, Barbara Diehl, Reijo Pold and Partel Tomberg for your
advice, encouragement and friendship; my parents Gary and Carolann Lennox and Cyprian
Szalankiewicz for putting up with me – it has been quite a year; all of the speakers, workshop
hosts and panellists for your invaluable wisdom and time; our sponsors for believing in our work
and supporting it; and, most importantly, thanks to all of our members for being Oxford
Entrepreneurs. It has been an honour.

Victoria Lennox

08/09 President

OE 2008-09 Year In Review 17