4 Venture / KEELE MANAGEMENT SCHOOL
Dancer, Footballer, Entrepreneur …
A multi-talented KMS student
Elliott Lancaster, currently a final year Accounting and Finance student, explained how he has made the most of every opportunity at Keele!
“ I remember arriving at Keele as though it was yesterday, a community that embraced me and presented a multitude of opportunities for students to get involved in.
In my first year, I became a Student Ambassador, an active volunteer and also established the‘ Rotaract’ Society. The society I created provided students with a wide range of volunteering opportunities including the Rough Sleep-Out which was promoted on the BBC News website, coincidentally; I was on a placement with the BBC Open Doors Programme at the time!
As Secretary of the Dance Society I somehow managed to win the Keele Charity Lip Sync Battle with my friends Katie, Sarah and Charlie and as Secretary, Mascot and occasional goalie for the Neil Baldwin Football Club played against Cambridge University, the Members of Parliament Football Club and Port Vale.
Studying the Entrepreneurship module inspired me to set up my own business‘ Utter Rubbish’ for which I secured over £ 30,000 from the‘ Environment Now’ Scheme funded by the National Lottery, O2 and the European Regional Development Fund.‘ Utter Rubbish’ tackles environmental issues through a website and‘ app’ displaying local council services collection data, skip hire companies and a national fly-tipping prevention online reporting service. The business currently has signed agreements with Newcastle-under-Lyme and East Staffordshire Councils.
Utter Rubbish Ltd has also been able to offer internship positions to Keele students through the KRISP programme( www. keele. ac. uk / business / keeleresearchandinnovation supportprogramme). The student interns produced promotional videos and enhanced the company’ s social media presence. This contributed to significant business growth which we hope to build on by offering more placements for Keele students next year.
As a Keele StAR( Student Voice Representative) I represented the views of my fellow students to academic staff. For my work as both a School and a Faculty StAR I was awarded Faculty StAR of the Year and the‘ Outstanding Contribution Award’. I also became President of the Accounting and Finance Society working with professional accreditation bodies such as the ICAEW, ACCA and CIMA helping students to explore their potential career options. Building on my own interest in entrepreneurship, I founded the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Society to help students wishing to start their own business by delivering skills workshops and hosting guest speakers on topics such as sustainability, creativity, funding, food and fitness. With the support of Santander and the Keele University Enterprise Centre we have also been able to offer a £ 10,000 enterprise grants scheme to encourage student development.
Finally, there are many other exciting opportunities on the horizon, I have just been shortlisted for the Morgan Innovation and Technology Prize with Santander, I have been asked to examine first and second year Entrepreneurship presentations, organise the BeMore Entrepreneurship event and even to host the Musical Theatre Show!
I strongly recommend that you get involved with the exciting opportunities that Keele has to offer, you will meet some amazing people and see where it leads you.”