- Course
- BA Fashion Design
“For our year in enterprise we’d been thinking about setting up our own businesses and thought it would make sense to do it together. The company was called JAM and we sold quality handmade clothing with a vintage-inspired twist in a retail space in Affleck’s Palace in Manchester.
“We were both interns and had to be each other’s supervisors, assessing each other’s development. Setting up a business is hard work, but you get out of it what you put in – and you’ve still got the safety net of the University in case things go wrong. We had the backing of Spark, the start-up service, and the fact they liked our idea helped to build our confidence.
“We got the enterprise scholarship and the Careers Centre organised lots of talks from different people about tax, intellectual property and copyright laws – basically, all the stuff you need to know for a business. We’ve networked so much and met so many different people who have helped us on the way."
Ceri-Elen also took part in the enterprise research exchange. She said: “I was just coming to the end of my year in enterprise when I received an email about the Santander exchange programme. I was keen to carry on my involvement with enterprise and the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies, and have always loved experiencing new cultures so this opportunity sounded perfect.”