The Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Award is awarded to the most enterprising student or student company at each of the Yorkshire universities. Elliott, one of the two 2014 winners from the University of Huddersfield, wrote to us to say what it has meant for them.
To be nominated for the Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Award and chosen to represent the University of Huddersfield was an honour for both us, of that there is no doubt. But to actually be presented with the Award from the Duke of York that stated “Young Entrepreneur” was just amazing! The day of the ceremony was a haze of interviews, press photographers, body guards and VIP’s; it was a great experience that Gareth and I will never forget.
But before the heady success of the Duke Of York Awards event we felt we had travelled a hard road where, for a long time it seemed we just couldn’t get any potential clients interested in our business. We were simply met with closed doors and the usual “oh thanks we will keep you on our records” comment and we really were almost on the brink of giving up. However a light appeared at the end of a long tunnel, when, with the help and support of the VC Bob Cryan and the University of Huddersfield’s Enterprise Team, we were able to make contact with David Brown Gear Systems Ltd. The company is based in the region and is one of the biggest industrial engineering companies in the UK and a global leader in industrial gearing solutions and service
We grabbed the opportunity with both hands and earlier this year we completed our first major piece of work which can be used as a credible example of our business. Not only that, we have received an amazing recommendation from the director of Mining at David Brown, Mark Hollingsworth:
“EG visuals have carried out a great job in producing an animation for a new product range from David Brown, taking 3D CAD design concepts and bringing them to life.
All the way through the process I have been very impressed with the ease with which EG Visuals picked up the tasks, even when considering some difficult engineering concepts. The end result has been a stunning visualisation of a product range which will have huge benefits to our company, both as a training tool and for customer presentations.”
Even with the success of David Brown Gears Systems, the scale of what we had achieved hadn’t quite hit home. This is where the recognition from the Duke Of York Award plays its part so well for us.
On the day of the ceremony we stood there in the crowd waiting for our names to be called out, nervous yet excited at the same time. But once called up on the stage to receive the award from the Duke and hearing him praise us for our hard work it was like the flicking on of a switch. At that moment we realised that out of all the other great business start-ups that could have been in our place, we had been chosen. Look at what we have achieved; look at what we have done in just a year, turning an idea in our heads into a reality, into an award-winning business.
Find out more on: www.egvisuals.co.uk/
