Student and graduate enterprise
Enterprise projects open world of opportunity
Loughborough graduate
Rose-MarieAlmond
Product Design Engineering MEng
Being enrolled on an intensive, five-year course with year spent in a top UK company, didn’t stop Rose-Marie Almond from taking advantage of some of Loughborough’s extra-curricular Enterprise opportunities.
Rose-Marie said: “I had always regretted not enrolling in the Young Enterprise Scheme at school. So I was immediately interested in Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE).
A not-for-profit organisation, SIFE comprises teams of students on university campuses worldwide that are challenged to develop community outreach projects which improve life for others by empowering them through business and enterprise principles.
Rose-Marie became a founding member of the Loughborough group and has since been actively involved in SIFE projects. Among them is Kickstart - a project which works with school-leavers aged 16 to 18, teaching them valuable skills to help make the leap from education to employment. The project includes the teaching of CV writing, budgeting and interview skills and is now in its fourth year.
Rose-Marie won a business plan competition run by Loughborough’s Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and achieved a grade A Business Studies A-level without taking any classes.
“SIFE gives you a good grounding in anything to do with business, from how to apply for grants, to how to talk to other business people and build up networks. I’ve learnt so much from talking to other people,” said Rose-Marie.
“I’ve learned how to measure your results and present to influential people. I used to be the shyest person but now I can stand up and present to a room full of people. I’ve had a go at everything. I’m still finishing my degree but I know I want to run my own business one day, to be in control of my work. I am toying with quite a few ideas – whatever I choose, it will be something I’m passionate about,’’ she concluded.