Posted: 2 June 2023
Annual University Campus Doncaster (UCDon) Business Symposium brings together keynote speakers, local businesses, nationally recognised entrepreneurs and students from the Doncaster campus for day of inspirational talks.
If you are starting out in the world of business, it can be daunting to know where to begin with building connections to further your career or how to turn an entrepreneurial idea into a viable business, that’s why we brought together 5 representatives from 5 very different organisations and backgrounds to share their business and life skills to support those taking the first steps or next steps in their careers.
The all-day Business Symposium held in May was the brainchild of Business lecturer Ellen Lumgair, “Having seen the challenges the students have faced over the last few years, I felt it was important to help them not only engage with the business community in new ways but inspire them in a variety of directions. We have a thriving and diverse business community in Doncaster filled with opportunities, so being able to host an event like this on our campus not only allows us to showcase a small sample of the roles and varied business opportunities available to them. It also serves as a platform to build connections with those within the business community both regionally and nationally, opening doors for work placements or future roles upon completion of their degree.”
The common theme of this year’s keynote speeches was ‘how can you make an impact’, whether that be to yourself, your career path, within business, in your local community or to the people you work with daily. Keynote speaker included: Kris Hall founder of hospitality mental health social enterprise The Burnt Chef Project; Ruta Lender, European Masters Weightlifting champion and corporate wellness coach; Hayden Fox, Sales Director with Sales Geek; Noreen Nasim, Author, TEDx speaker and Digital Industries Lecturer; Clynton Johnson, Co-founder and Communications Manager of non-profit organisation The Eve Merton Dreams Trust and Zoe Wadsworth, Business Consultant and owner of Ask Zoe.
Event attendee, Skills Advisor at South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and former BA (Hons) Business and Management student Alex Rothwell said “The day was jam-packed with valuable insights from an impressive line-up of guest speakers. From entrepreneurship to digital marketing, to health and fitness to charity work, the talks covered a wide range of topics that kept me engaged and inspired throughout the day.”
Guest speaker Clynton Johnson added “Being able to discuss how we as a third sector business (charitable voluntary and community organisation) approach the different aspect of our business is such a huge thing. We deal with real life, both the good and the bad aspects of it, but because of this we have the opportunity to share some invaluable insights that I hope people take to heart and transfer to any role or sector.”
In summary of the event Ellen added “Enhancing business knowledge and skills to support students is not just classroom based. Coming together to empower the next generation of business leaders at events like these shows the level of support the Doncaster business community has for one another, you can see it makes a real impact and inspires each individual’s self-development journey and career.”
Plans for the next symposium still under wraps until the new year, but you can find more about our business courses starting this September, including the new BA (Hons) Applied Business Studies programme of study.
