What does it mean to be an Entrepreneur in Residence?
When I received the invitation to contribute to The University of Sussex as their first Entrepreneur in Residence, I had to do some research. Although I’ve heard of the term I must admit I wasn’t clear on what would be expected of me. Here is what I discovered before taking on the role and how that’s played out in my first year in this role.
When I first received the email with the invitation to become Sussex Universities Entrepreneur in Residence, I went straight onto the internet and searched “Entrepreneur in Residence at University” and looked up how different universities summarised the role alongside some articles on the topic in business magazines.
The clearest definition I came across was in a Forbes article contributed by Ashoka: “Simply put, entrepreneurs-in-residence help expand and validate the theoretical knowledge taught on campuses by illustrating it with practical tips and everyday business guidance by sharing their real-world stories.”
With a little more clarity I could go back to the team at Sussex and indicate my interest and discover what specifically they had in mind for the position and why they felt I was a good fit.
In my first conversation with the University, I understood their desire to ingrain real-life expertise around social impact business models into the education and create deeper connections between the campus community and the local business community.
They were looking for a social entrepreneur whom they believed students and recent graduates would find relatable to contribute their real-life experience to the community and some planned activities included:
Consulting on curriculum and programme content
Advice and mentoring for those in the community with new good business ideas
Participating on panels to judge programmes and competitions
To date, the opportunities we’ve created have expanded further than we’d first designed and have covered a range of areas.
Consult on curriculum and programme content
I was invited to debunk the myths around social enterprise and where to start one as a guest lecture for the post graduates New Venture Creation and Business Planning model and have fed back on the internship and career channels on offer to local businesses.
1-2-1 advice and mentoring
I have sat down with a number of students to offer insights and advice on what steps to take next on their business ideas and connected them up to resources and specialists in the Brighton ecosystem to contribute to their development.
Judge programmes and competitions
From sitting on the judging panel for their Pitch to Planet programme at the start and the end of the academic to judging the Social Impact Prize awards with the Sussex Innovation Centre, it was inspiring to hear the ideas coming out of the community and enable them to access resources they need to get off the ground.
Host podcast series
I was approached by the Alumni team to host a new podcast series interviewing alumni about their take and insights on how we can be building better businesses.
This was a collaboration in partnership with the Sussex Innovation Centre and I interviewed Josh Krichefski, Mo Kanjilal, Raj Goodman Anand, Yumi Prentice, and Bogolo Kenewendo who all offered fantastic insights and practical suggestions for our listeners.
Share expertise and experience
I was also interviewed by the Entrepreneurship team for their Good Business podcast series on how any business can integrate the UN Sustainable Development Goals into their model and ran a session for the Social Impact Prize on my own journey of starting up a social enterprise - warts and all.
I sat on a panel for the Enterprising Impact Conversation: Understand, protect and harness the value of your research, to introduce social enterprise as a route to market and impact.
This role has far exceeded my expectations which I put down to the people at Sussex who are authentically looking at doing things differently to enhance the students’ and graduates’ experience and give them every opportunity to take their bold ideas into the world.
I have thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck into some really impactful opportunities and am excited to share that I will be continuing my role as Entrepreneur in Residence into the next academic year. Very excited about what another 12 months will look like and what opportunities we create for the Sussex community.
Geoff Ranson, Startup Croydon on delivering Workshops
“I consider Sara to be one of my go-to experts in the social enterprise and business for good sectors.”