Student finance gains entrepreneurial boost

Students with ideas that combined business acumen with their artistic desires have gained some valuable advice and finance at the RNCM in Manchester.

Students finalists had to pitch their ideas Dragon Den style to win financial backing

Friday, 31 March 2017

The inaugural Browne Jacobson RNCM Entrepreneurship Award recently took place at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Launched in February, the new initiative was established to help young RNCM entrepreneurs get innovative projects off the ground through financial assistance, advice sessions and professional mentoring.

More than 40 business plans were submitted by students who were keen to see their unique project come to life, with 15 being chosen to pitch — 'Dragons' Den' style — to a panel of judges. Ideas ranged from a photography collective which would provide students with high quality, low cost images to enhance their promotional materials, to a composition project specifically designed for video games.

£1,000 each

Supported by national law firm Browne Jacobson, which kindly contributed £5000 to the fund, the 2017 Award offered 10 students £1000 to get their project up and running.

Browne Jacobson partner Nichola Evans told 4BR: "We were hugely impressed with the quality of the ideas and pitches we saw. I have no doubt that we will see many of these ideas go on to become successful enterprises in the near future.

We have a strong track record in supporting start-ups and entrepreneurs and believe that initiatives such as this help students to appreciate that sound business acumen is just as important as having the necessary artistic skills and creative ideas."

Fantastic opportunity

Hannah McCabe, RNCM Fellow of Creative & Professional Practice, added: "This has been a fantastic opportunity for RNCM students to develop the business skills and artistic vision needed to compete in the music industry.

Over the past few weeks over 90 students have benefitted enormously from the advice of industry professionals resulting in a highly competitive final showcasing artistically diverse business proposals."

This has been a fantastic opportunity for RNCM students to develop the business skills and artistic vision needed to compete in the music industryHannah McCabe, RNCM Fellow of Creative & Professional Practice

Winners

This year's student winners were:

Sam Harding and Tom Knight: Blue Handle Productions
Daniel Lim: RNCM Photography
Ines Mota: Bollywood Electric String Quartet
James Paul: Modular Percussive Midi Pads
Ellie Slorach: Kantos Chamber Choir
Imogen Storey: Microphone PreAmp Production
Sebastian Winter: Winter Score
Kim McKenzie and Zak Lyons: Music Festival for Dementia
Stanley Scott: Browne Jacobson RNCM Concept

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