Alumni share business start-up journeys with Westminster Business students

The event featured alumni who shared their journeys from researching and building business plans to starting their own businesses. They gave insights into the hurdles they faced, business growing pains and how students can learn from their professional experience.

The evening was co-hosted by Dr Spinder Dhaliwal, founder of the Westminster Entrepreneurship Research Group, and current EIED MSc student Kaela Griswold, who also led a question-and-answer session. The focus of the event was on the importance of research, planning, and developing resilience. The event also showcased the business ideas of the current group of EIED MSc students, who were able to elicit feedback and to undertake some live research with the alumni speakers and their peers.

Alumni speakers included Manimekala Fuller, a 2018 Fashion Design BA Honours graduate who designs, manufactures and sells a unique line of womenswear. One of her dresses was recently worn by Akshata Murty, wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, at the 2023 G20 summit. Manimekala is also a founder on the University’s Elevate Business Support programme, a six-month programme for University of Westminster graduates and alumni who are active founders of a business registered and operating in the UK. This initiative offers tailored and strategic support to put participating businesses on a pathway to growth, focusing on increased revenue generation and optimisation of processes.

Wren and Mark Fegarsky from Schparkly Creative spoke about their full-service branding and design studio, which offers messaging, web presence, presentation design, social media content design, print design, trade show design and marketing to small businesses. Mark Fegarsky is an alumnus of the Marketing Management MA course. 

Yashraj Jain, a 2011 graduate of the Applied Market and Social Research MA, spoke about his work as Director of The Research Concierge, a catalytic insights consultancy. Yashraj also sits on the University of Westminster’s Employer Advisory Board.

Maria Lain, an alumna of the 2023 Elevate Business Support programme, represented the Spanish for Executives Ltd. Company, which provides private language tuition for professionals. She spoke about their new Top Tier Immersive Programme in Spanish, which expands the reach of the company and targets new clients beyond the professional sphere. The evening also featured Debrah Igbinedion, a freelance content creator with her own YouTube channel; and Rahim Belhadj, a 2023 alumnus of the EIED MSc course.

Dr Spinder Dhaliwal said: “We learnt so much from the speakers. Real lives, real businesses, real issues. The students were given insights into the reality of starting up your own business, writing and researching for a business plan and having the resilience to move forwards.”

This event directly contributed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education and 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.

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