Leeds competition attracts numerous university contenders for best business plans.

Products for students of all ages won the hearts of judges at the Spark-organised 2014 Leeds Business Plan Competition. The annual competition, which awards two prizes. One prize granted to a pre-trading business and another that has been trading for up to 24 months. The winners each receive a prize of £2,000.

Alice Colligan was awarded in the Pre-trading category for her business, Youmi & Teepee, a range of indoor playhouse teepees for children. The biology undergraduate major was inspired to develop the children’s products when discussing ways to encourage children to read for pleasure with her primary school teacher mother.

Colligan has been approached by local boutiques to stock the teepees and expects to start trading in May of this year, which will be backed up with her own website.  

Alice was awarded an Enterprise Scholarship from the University in November 2013 and also received Proof of Concept funding in January this year. 

JumpIn was the winner of the trading prize. The company, which offers a mobile application taxi service for university students is taking off, not just with students, but cab companies that want piece of the university taxi segment across the UK.

The JumpIn app, available on iOS and Android, was founded by three students from the University of Leeds who saw the need for a taxi sharing app after taking two separate taxis to the same bar in Leeds. The app has since evolved into a booking and sharing solution, tailored specifically for students with features such as group bookings, closed community sharing, fixed fares and nightclub partnerships.

ComCab, the UKs leading taxi service, has partnered with the student taxi app service in Birmingham and Liverpool. JumpIn, an app that allows students to book and share taxis, will use the ComCab radio circuits to fulfil trip requests in both locations – with a view to rolling out nationwide.

JumpIn is already operating in Leeds, Nottingham and Newcastle, where it has partnered with private hire vehicle suppliers. The venture into Birmingham and Liverpool will be the start-up’s first partnership with hackney carriage vehicles.

 

Picture: Leeds University. Source: Wikipedia.