OU’s Open Business Creators Fund awards grants totalling £30k to student-led enterprises

Posted on 21 August 2026 • Student stories, University news

Eighteen budding entrepreneurs have been awarded cash grants to kickstart their business ideas thanks to Open Business Creators (OBC).

The popular and long-running initiative supports Open University students and alumni to start, grow and sustain their own businesses or freelance careers.

Through a combination of training, funding and business support, OBC aims to help entrepreneurs develop the skills, confidence and connections needed to build successful ventures. You can learn more about OBC: click here for the Open Business Creators | Open University

The Open Business Creators Fund is one element of that support. The fund offers grants provided by Santander Universities to help students and graduates take the next step in developing their businesses, whether that is developing a new idea, expanding an existing business, investing in equipment or technology, developing products and services, or reaching new customers. The Open University also contributes funding towards grants for early-stage businesses and freelancers and works with corporate partners, donors and alumni to fundraise for this support.

The stories of the grant recipients demonstrate how OU students and graduates are creating innovative businesses alongside their studies, developing solutions to real-world challenges, generating social impact within their communities, and contributing to local and regional economies.

Here are some examples:

Jade Muckleston studied a BA (Hons) in Childhood and Youth Studies and received a grant of £1,000 towards her business, Tuned for Growth. The venture offers personalised 1:1 music wellbeing sessions designed to support children’s emotional wellbeing in a calm, nurturing environment. She is currently developing a dedicated music wellbeing space.

Jade said:

“I decided to apply because the fund felt like an opportunity to invest in the business at exactly the right point. I had the passion and the idea, but I needed the resources to help turn it into something sustainable.

“Receiving the grant has made a huge difference. It has given me the opportunity to invest in portable instruments and resources for my sessions, as well as put funding towards developing a dedicated space for Tuned for Growth.

“The dedicated space is particularly important to me because I want to create somewhere that feels calm, welcoming and completely centred around the needs of the children I work with.”

Jade’s aim is to grow Tuned for Growth into a sustainable music wellbeing service for primary-aged children, offering 1:1 and small-group sessions tailored to individual children’s needs.

Lee Maltby, who studied a BA (Hons) in Business Management entered his final assignment project idea and created Firm Foundation, for which he was awarded a grant of £1,000.

Firm Foundation Recruitment bridges the gap between custody and careers. Founded on lived experience of the criminal justice system, it places prison leavers into real jobs before release — reducing reoffending, cutting prison costs, and delivering work-ready employees to employers.

Lee, whose business idea came from his own rehabilitation journey, said:

“The stigma attached to a criminal record remains a structural barrier — not a personal failing, but a systemic failure that costs individuals, employers, and the public sector dearly.”

On receiving the grant, Lee said:

“It’s the difference between having an idea and being able to start the venture. The grant will fund the specialist legal work … to incorporate Firm Foundation Recruitment properly as a nonprofit CIC — the right structure for a social enterprise — plus the branding and marketing (logo, website, donor prospectus, employer information pack and a short promotional video) and the accounting and payroll systems we needed to actually operate.

“Studying Entrepreneurship and Innovation (B209) gave me the tools to properly interrogate the model rather than just run on instinct.

“I am currently in the process of recruiting two advisors to assist in governance and to be taken seriously as a social enterprise.

“We’re ready to pilot with HMP Hatfield, with the goal of rolling out to all 13 category D (open) prisons, and eventually extending into probation and community sentence pathways too.”

Gillian Nicholson studied a BSc (Hons) in Computing and IT and received a grant of £1,000. Her company Sealladh Digital Services is a freelance web development service focused on improving the usability, accessibility, and performance of existing websites for small organisations. Her idea came from real-world experiences of websites that appeared functional but did not work well in practice, particularly on mobile devices and in lower connectivity conditions.

She is putting her grant to use by investing in industry-recognised professional training.

Gillian said:

“Having access to this training means I can develop my business more quickly than I otherwise would have been able to. It will help build client confidence in my skills and abilities and allow me to offer a stronger, more professional service from the outset.

Gillian said the grant gave her “a huge confidence boost”. “It reinforced my belief that the business has real potential and gave me the encouragement to move forward with greater confidence,” she said.

“My long-term goal is to build a business that helps organisations improve the accessibility and usability of their websites.

“I’ve always wanted to use my skills in a way that helps people and contributes something positive to the world. While the business needs to be commercially sustainable, my motivation has never been purely financial.

“The grant will allow me to pursue more specialised certifications than I had originally planned, broadening the range of services I can offer.”

This year’s funding round attracted applications from a diverse range of businesses and freelancers across the UK, representing a wide variety of sectors and reflecting the entrepreneurial talent within the Open University community.

How to find out more:

Read more about the Freelancer fund on this link and read about the Startup Fund by clicking on this link

Contact: [email protected] to be added to the mailing list or find out more about the support on offer.

Image: Image shows a lightbulb in the sky depicting a “lightbulb moment”. Image credit: Jetalproducoes, Pixabay