News | Friday, 15th January 2016

Business School students win national FLUX 500 title

Start-up pitch tops rival UK university teams

ENTERPRISING students from across the Business School have been crowned national champions in the annual FLUX 500 business challenge - a UK-wide, inter-university competition.

The winning Manchester Met Business School team competed against 11 other universities to become the 2016 winners of FLUX 500, held on 6-7 January at Lancaster University.

The two-day business challenge event brought together university teams from across England, Scotland and Wales to compete for a £1,200 prize. Teams had to devise a business start-up idea using the industry-proven business model tool XING, as they pitched business and product ideas to an audience of corporate sponsors.

The event allows students to benefit from an innovative learning experience, develop team-working skills and gain access to professional business mentors and advisers over the two days.

Standing out

The event serves as a great talent spotting opportunity and is sponsored by some of the biggest names in graduate recruitment, including BAE Systems. All teams benefit from exclusive networking and career development opportunities with the event sponsors.

The Manchester Met team was mentored by Paul Tucker, Associate Lecturer in Enterprise and a trained business mentor, and Kim Kershaw, Programme Support Tutor, both from the Business School’s Management Department.

David Taylor, Programme Coordinator for undergraduate Business, Management and Enterprise programmes, said: “FLUX 500 is an innovative way for our students to really stand out from the crowd on a national scale and get themselves noticed by top graduate employers.

“I am extremely proud of our students and the incredible work they have achieved in bringing this national title to the Business School. The teams were fantastic in their approach to strategy, product development, marketing and overall pitching. Special thanks also goes to the team’s mentors, Kim and Paul, and we look forward to defending this title at next year’s FLUX 500 challenge.”

The Manchester Met team consisted of students from across the Faculty of Business and Law:

• Oliver Neave, George Bentham and William Hicks - BA (Hons) Business Enterprise and Marketing 

• Megan Lane and Simon Mutalib - BA (Hons) Business Management 

• Regina Kuehni - MSc Marketing