The Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School held the final of first All-Innovate inter-college competition, with three teams sharing a £30,000 prize pot
Second Day, a talent matching and resource hub, co-founded by Oxford MBA students Brigit Goebelbecker and Zoe Woods, won the first prize of £20,000 in the competition to put towards their venture.
University undergraduates Eva Xiao Wanlin, Kezia Susanto and Zheqing Zhang claimed the joint-runners-up prize of £5,000 for their business idea, i-Opto; and Masters' students Thomas Caganek and Frederik Heymann Lassen took the final runners-up prize, also of £5,000, as they introduced their venture, Omos Health.
Brigit and Zoe said afterwards: ‘The most surprising thing was how many people came up to us who wanted to get involved in supporting our product - from undergrads hoping to get on our platform to young professionals looking to work as mentors. We’ve been very touched to see Second Day be recognised for its impact in such a competitive space.'
All-Innovate is an inter-college ideas competition where University of Oxford undergraduates, postgraduates and DPhils pitch their entrepreneurial ideas. The competition aims to encourage all students at Oxford, regardless of discipline or level of study, to develop an entrepreneurial skill set and generate entrepreneurial ideas.
The contest featured ten business ideas in the final, fronted by a variety of teams ranging from undergraduate students to alumni, representing their University of Oxford colleges, who had progressed through quarter and semi-finals. The judges were:
- Chas Bountra, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Professor of Translational Medicine
- Arunma Oteh, Executive in Residence at the School
- Alex Hammacher, Head of Strategic Operations & Corporate Finance at Oxford Science Enterprises, and
- Saïd Business School Board member Rasha Khawaja
Arunma added: ‘The teams were all great. As we explained on the night, it was difficult for us judges given the quality of the pitches. I am excited for them as with hard work and passion, they could have a great societal impact and become unicorns.’
You can read more about the successful entrants on the Entrepreneurship Centre’s LinkedIn page.