Explore the stories of entrepreneurs who have received support for their businesses.

Study Like an Entrepreneur: Elijah

Meet Elijah - an award-winning OU Business Management student who’s also a co-owner of Liz Pie Pastry, showing how online study can unlock real opportunities. Find out more in this video on YouTube.

AFTA Studios

Discover how Becca and Jade turned their passion for women's football into a thriving business with the support of the OU's entrepreneurial programmes and expert mentorship.

Project RECCE

The First Place prize for the Student Entrepreneurship Competition went to Laurence Moore of Project RECCE, who received £6000 from Santander Universities.

• Safaraz Ali: Experienced business leader/entrepreneur/founder. Over the past 22+ years, founding and successfully establishing the Pathway Group, Nationwide Care Services, Nationwide Care Pharmacy, F5 Foster Care and ThinkFest events. Champions diversity and inclusion and founded the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards and the Multicultural Apprenticeship Alliance to increase diversity within workforces. Today these initiatives are supported by over 60 large employers.
• Mags Byrne: Mags Byrne, founder and CEO of Estars and First for Players, former CEO and Director at the English Premier League, Football Association England, and England Boxing. A dual-qualified lawyer in Wales, England, and the Republic of Ireland, she is recognised as one of the top 50 Irish Women of Influence.
• Francesca Calo: Dr. Francesca Calo (PhD) is the Interim Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and a Senior Lecturer in Management at the Department of Public Leadership & Social Enterprise, where she brings academic experience from posts held in the UK and Italy. She is also the OU investigator for the Horizon Europe funded project ENCASE where she is exploring co-creation projects in relation to green transition. She is also the CO-I for an Open Societal Challenge project titled 'Supporting Diverse New Motherhoods for Work Inclusion', that aims to improve the understanding and practices of supporting diverse motherhoods for work inclusion. Based on the findings of the research project and collaboration with other colleagues in FBL, Francesca co-created the Return-to-Work Toolkit for parents and employers as part of the Mumentum campaign.
• Alex Cole: Alex Cole, CEO of Tin Ventures, is a highly experienced leader in Organisational Change, Innovation, and Sustainability. He has a proven track record of delivering business value through data analytics and insight.
• Russell Dalgleish: Russell Dalgleish is the Founding Managing Partner of Exolta Capital Partners and the Founding Chair of the Scottish Business Network. He has a notable track record in the international technology sector and plays a pivotal role in advising and supporting business leaders and entrepreneurs in achieving global success. He is also the Founding Director of Net Zero Nation, a non-profit organisation addressing carbon footprint reduction in SMEs, and actively works to address gender imbalances in business through support for the Association of Scottish Businesswomen and Changing the Chemistry organisations.
• Julian Hall: Featured in Forbes, Julian "The Ultrapreneur" Hall is the founder of the multi-award-winning Ultra Education CIC, a social enterprise that uses entrepreneurship to empower children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Liz Moody: Liz Moody is an academic in the OU Business School with both research interests and lived experience of working with entrepreneurs, social enterprises, voluntary organisations and organisations across several sectors. Prior to her academic career, Liz ran her own businesses and supported and coached business start-ups. She has written and delivered several programmes designed to support founders through the crucial stages of starting and growing their businesses.
• Ben Partridge: Ben Partridge has spent over 30 years in the IT and telecoms industry and founded several successful businesses. As Head of Learning and Innovation at Derby University, he led the unit to a surplus of £1.2 million and has held previous EIR posts at the University of Surrey and the Satellite Applications Catapult. He is currently Director of Ashby House which supports business accelerators, incubators and growth organisations with a complete programme of business support.
• Aqueel Wahga: Dr. Aqueel Wahga is Director of Center for Social and Sustainable Enterprise (CSSE), and a Senior Lecturer in Management at the Open University Business School. He is also Director of MBA Programme. Dr Wahga’s teaching and research interests relate to entrepreneurship, sustainability and innovation. He has been the Innovation and Enterprise Pathway Qualifications Lead finding and promoting innovative ways to advance entrepreneurship and enterprise teaching. He therefore led the production of an innovative module B209 Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Currently, Dr Wahga is leading a team to set up a business incubation centre at the Open University. He also acts as the institutional champion for the Babson Collaborative leading on OU’s partnership with the Babson College.