Nottingham Engineering Graduates are Finalists in National Business Innovation Competition

On 28 October 2019 engineering students, graduates and postgraduates will compete for a prestigious Engineers in Business Competition award and a share of a £10,000 prize pot. 

Ten teams from UK universities have been short-listed to pitch their business innovations at the Champion of Champions Grand Final at the Royal Academy of Engineering – the awards ceremony will be attended by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the patron of the Engineers in Business Competition (EIBC).

Shrenik Parmar, MBA graduate and Afraz Hussain, Computer Science with AI graduate from the University of Nottingham have created Proodle Solutions which builds mobile recruitment apps for universities, enabling universities to stand out from international competitors and attract, engage and convert prospective students. With 458,000 international students in the UK and a revenue potential of £25 billion, Proodle Solutions platform allows universities to transform the international student recruitment process into a personalised mobile app experience.

The Engineers in Business Competition inspires engineers to gain business skills through their university enterprise competitions. They then harness their combined engineering and business skills to create innovations that can change people’s lives and improve the lived environment. 

Proodle Solutions won its university heat of the Engineers in Business Competition receiving £1,500 to assist with the development of its innovation. Shrenik and Afraz then entered the Engineers in Business Grand Final and won a place in the Champion of Champions Final, where they will be up against other engineers with equally forward-thinking ideas. Will Proodle Solutions walk away with the Gold for transforming the way recruiters attract international students? 

Commenting on what inspired the idea, Shrenik said: “International student recruitment is entirely demand based and universities only offer an official website to cater needs of millions in this technological modern life and spend billions in student acquisition activities in this overly competitive sector. Having gone through the student side process myself, I saw an opportunity to boost the engagement and enrolment experience by providing a smart student recruitment mobile app to a university to make an everlasting impression on prospective students and help them make an informed decision.”

The Dragons’ Den Style competition will see each pitch team present and answer questions from the judges who are:

• Ana Avaliani, Head of Enterprise, Royal Academy of Engineering
• Tim Chapman, Director, Arup – Infrastructure
• Andrew Doe, a Sainsbury Management Fellow, serial entrepreneur, a highly experienced e-commerce and digital leader and a non-exec director
• Kate Beresford, Head of Membership and Operation, Enterprise Educators UK 

The judges are looking:

• Originality and viability of the idea
• How the idea helps to solve a real problem in society
• The benefits to the target audience/customer

In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, there will be two other exciting prizes: 

• Lord Sainsbury Prize – Lord Sainsbury will award this prize to the team he believes has created a business idea that will have a big impact in society
• People’s Prize – the winner of this prize will be determined by the number of public votes based on the finalists’ videos which can be viewed on this website

The Engineers in Business Competition supports and promotes the idea of a combined engineering and business education. In a world that is moving and developing so rapidly, these skills are vital in order to tackle challenging global problems and to make lasting positive changes to the way we live.

The Proodle Solutions team explains why it is important for engineering students and graduates to learn business innovation skills:

 “Today’s engineer are the inventors of the future and their innovation skills are needed more than ever to build sustainable products, services and technologies for a greener planet. Innovation skills will help improve society, local community and the planet, and it’s essential that the next generation of engineers are trained to use their entrepreneurial mindset, work with diverse teams and learn how to bring a product or service into the market.

“Demand for innovation is high and support will come if a team has the right product at the right time. It requires an entrepreneur to utilise their time efficiently and be pro-active, persistent and patient in the areas that matters the most to move towards next stage.  We are very excited to have the opportunity to pitch our idea at the Grand Final.”

For further information on Proodle contact Althea Taylor-Salmon at eibcompetition@eibc.org.uk.