Welsh students win grants to support their business ideas

Three OU in Wales students have won a grant to support their business ideas as part of an Open University competition for student entrepreneurs - the Open Business Creators (OBC) fund. From 175 entries, the Wales winners joined by 14 entrepreneurs from across the OU that have also received grants.

Support for families

Psychology with Counselling student Rachel Griffin has won in the 'Serious' category, for businesses which have been operating for under a year. She will receive a £5000 grant to support the development of her digital app Heart of Home. The app is designed to aid parents and care professionals in supporting their relatives and dependants with autism.

Llun o Rachel Griffin

‘Heart of Home will be a digital application to provide support for families that have children with a disability, created to provide simple, effective support for the whole family, because support begins at the Heart of Home,’ said Rachel. ‘I am excited to share that at this point in the journey. I am having my website built - this will be ready to go live in a few weeks - with the ability to share the benefits of this initiative and to sign up in advance. I have my business Facebook page set up where I have been sharing the different steps I am taking on this journey of making Heart of Home a reality.’

The OBC fund is a competition which gives OU students the chance to win a grant to kick start their ideas and become entrepreneurs.

Minimising waste

The 'Curious' category supports students with business ideas that are in the early stages of being developed or have been thought about for a while. Among the winners of this category are two Welsh students: Bachelor of Engineering student James Benson has won a grant for his wood supply business, The Second Chance Sawmill. Based in south Wales, the sawmill is committed to reducing the UK’s reliance on imported timber, as well as minimizing waste.

Image of Daniel Richard

The other idea to win in this category is Mallard developed by Psychology student Daniel Richard, from Gwent. Mallard aims to offer professional content creation and editing services for businesses, freelancers, and authors. Both winners will receive a grant of £1000 to help progress their ideas.

'Thanks to the grant received from the Open Business Creators Fund, we will finally be able to prepare our workshop space and start building the sawmill,' said James, founder of the Second Chance Sawmill, 'allowing us to convert trees that would otherwise be hacked up for firewood, into beautiful, useable timber products that will last a lifetime.'