Mentoring with Spark
Last Friday Geoff headed along to mentor some aspiring entrepreneurs at Deakin’s first Spark event of the year.SPARK@Deakin is an experiential program designed to give students, staff and alumni of Deakin University an opportunity to see, experience, and relate to the early stages of the entrepreneurial path. The focus of SPARK@Deakin is educating and training aspirant entrepreneurs regarding how to approach a project from a commercial perspective. This is to help inspire and provide a pathway for current students and staff to realise their innovative ideas.
After a full day of workshops the day before, participants were getting down to business by doing some real customer interviews, exploring the popularity and potential of their idea. They then spent the afternoon preparing and practicing their pitches.
Geoff and the other mentors lent their expertise on how to build and deliver an engaging and successful pitch. Participants were from a range of faculties across Deakin, including engineering, health, it, education, and commerce. Many were experiencing the startup ecosystem for the first time. All were encouraged, supported and left with their heads full of important lessons for first time entrepreneurs.
Applications for participation in the Spark entrepreneuring program opened yesterday and staff and students have two weeks to submit their idea. Once ideas have been submitted, the Spark team will select the best from them to receive a further month’s mentoring to prepare them to pitch for up to $20,000 investment from the university in June.
At One10, we are excited to see educational institutions recognising the importance of fostering entrepreneurial spirit in young people, and encouraging the pursuit of new and innovative ideas that may help to shape the future of Australia and the world.
