On March 20th, we held a Graduation event for all of the participants of the Aston Apollo programme. A six week programme held in the Autumn and Spring terms, Apollo was created to help Aston students develop those business ideas you have in the back of your head and make the first steps towards making them a reality.
Each week, we held a masterclass on a key topic relating to starting up a new venture and then invited guest entrepreneurs to share their real life experiences - inviting students to quiz them and get feedback on their own ideas.
Over the six weeks, we covered business planning, marketing, lean startup methodology, finances, investment, pitching & more. Our guest entrepreneurs included the likes of James Villarreal (CEO of Glide Utilities), Stuart Harrison (Founder of Remedy Roots - Aston & BSEEN Alumni), Bethan Miles (Founder of Aliciyo & BSEEN Mentor), Omran Al Habbal (Founder of Gladington - Birmingham 30 Under 30) & Alex Toft (Head of investment group Minerva).
73 students took part in total, with a great mix across all Schools and years - from Foundation Year through to PhD. All students were invited to share their ideas with each other, and some have even formed groups to take those ideas forward.
At the graduation event, some of the student who took part in the programme shared their stories of how they’ve developed as people, progressed their business ideas and ultimately how they’ve developed a more entrepreneurial mindset that they’ll take forward into their future careers.
We were also lucky to be joined by the Vice Chancellor of Aston University Alec Cameron, and the Director of Santander Universities, Matt Hutnell. Special thanks have to go to Santander Universities, whose support has made this programme possible.
Recap what Aston students thought of Apollo in this short video.
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