Whether it is as a result of economic conditions, a challenging jobs market or simply an increase in people wanting to do something for themselves, there can be no denying that Enterprise and Entrepreneurship is on the rise. And at TheEmployable we love nothing more than hearing about just that and in particular about people who are proactively promoting and encouraging entrepreneurialism at all levels. So we are delighted this week to be able to feature a guest blog all about Student Entrepreneurship from Shamsul Duha, Founder of SooUni.

Student entrepreneurship is a term that is becoming common place amongst university students across the UK. Although the concept itself is far from new, the increase in entrepreneurial activity amongst the university student community is staggering. There has been a startling shift from the conventional path of higher education leading to solid employment, to a very different scenario. Whereby a degree no longer guarantees the prosperous career that was expected in the 1990s and this last decade. Some have suggested that such a shift in paradigm has been partly caused by overzealous ambitions of the Labour government, who sought to send 50% of young people onto higher education. However, such claims take us into the realm of politics, whereas I will choose to instead focus on what has been the result from such a shift within the UK higher education system.

What I have witnessed as a student and now a recent graduate can simply be described as ‘the rebirth of student entrepreneurship’. After speaking to more than one thousand students over the course of three weeks while travelling across London to numerous university campuses, I have identified an ever-growing group of students that had set their eyes on enterprise.  The business plans vary, but the one common trait that binds them together is their infectious enthusiasm to create. Some of the students I have spoken to, hope to create innovative mobile applications. Whilst others wish to create solutions to our most conventional problems and the greatest of these student entrepreneur’s seek to create answers to some of humanities most complex issues.

The entrepreneurial student community has now regained considerable clout within the higher education framework. This has meant that small-scale enterprise societies of the past have evolved. They have now developed into hubs of creativity and innovation with the help of charities such as The National Association of College and University Entrepreneur’s (NACUE). The flurry of activity within these student entrepreneurial communities is awe-inspiring. The opportunities really do seem to be endless for those that are willing to take calculated risks and create something of benefit to others.

What have I created that others can benefit from?

SooUni is my offering to the entrepreneurial student community and the wider world at large. It could be late into the night when they’ve almost worked themselves into oblivion, or perhaps sitting in a lecture hall thinking of reinventing a product for the twenty first-century consumer.
These are the moments when entrepreneurs can visit SooUni and develop their Eureka moments. SooUni develops these bright sparks by acting as a resource for entrepreneur’s to find practical information provided by some of the most renowned graduate entrepreneur’s in the country that have had an idea, made it work and are now making the road just that little bit easier for the next generation of creators.
SooUni can also be of interest to those who believe entrepreneurialism isn’t for them.  Whilst we take pride in serving the entrepreneurial community, we also regularly post fantastic employment opportunities in the form of graduate schemes and internships.

If you are interested in finding out more about SooUni , visit their site here or check them out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/soouni or on Twitter @ShamsulDuha .