Newcastle’s Entrepreneurship society becomes the University’s newest society
Founded for the 2021-22 academic year, the Newcastle’s newest Entrepreneurship society aims to provide support and guidance to all budding entrepreneurs in attendance at the University and fill the gap between new start-ups and the lack of mentoring holding them back. A leading factor in opening a society such as this, and why it has the potential to be very successful is the alarming success rate of start-up failures. According to a report from business4beginners.com, 1 in 5 start-ups fail in the UK, a figure that is only higher when considering the additional pressures that come with being a student.
As the founder and acting president of Newcastle’s Entrepreneurship society, Kit Scott has himself identified how much an aspiring young entrepreneur would benefit from the opportunities his society is now able to provide and, and how it has the potential to grow exponentially.
“Myself and a couple of others just noticed that there was effectively no support for something like this. Aspiring entrepreneurs should be encouraged encouraged at Newcastle”
The Entrepreneurship society is yet to be ratified by Newcastle University student union as it does not have 15 paying members though Kit Scott remains confident that the society has the potential to progress along way in the coming years:
“I would say the best thing that we will be able to do is bring together of young adults in the same situation into the same room and provide the fuel to bounce off each other. Every individual is clearly already inspired to have their own business and are somewhat aware of the risks and rewards that come with that. At this early stage however they just lack the resources and predominantly the time to morph their idea into something successful, at this stage they have a better chance of doing that with the help of a group”.
When it becomes ratified, the Entrepreneurship society will become an addition to Newcastle Universities 180+ student run societies on offer but requires 15 paying members before it can do so. Kit Scott believes they have not reached the required number yet because of the risk that can come with becoming an entrepreneur:
“I think that while every young person has thought of a business idea at some point, there can be factors such as the degree of risk, how unknown it can make the future, and also what your friends will think if you suddenly consider yourself an entrepreneur”.
After just 1 year of being founded the Entrepreneurship society shows signs of being extremely beneficial to its members with arguably limitless boundaries for its members and due to the support, they can now receive. Newcastle University prides itself on the success of its alumni’s achievements, as can be seen through-out its campus, but originally did so without a society that can provide a support network for the next generation. Considering the rate at which new start-up ideas fail in the UK, societies across British universities targeted at bringing together young entrepreneurs right at the core, can act as a brand-new foundation in solving that problem.