Casestudies: graduate entrepreneurs

‘I got a deal that brings in £350,000 per year’

• Chris Quickfall, 27, is managing director at the Gateshead-based business Invate, an assistive technology supplier, which he founded

“When I was in my second year at Northumbria University in Newcastle, I was recognised as being dyslexic,” says Quickfall. "There was a government scheme whereby I was entitled to special equipment and training, but I was told to go to Manchester to get it. I asked why there wasn’t anyone available in the Northeast and it turned out there was a vacuum of services.” That’s where his business idea came into play and today his company is one of the region’s fastest growing companies, employing 13 people – a one-stop shop solution for universities and businesses looking to source software and hardware adapted for disabled users. Invate collates the software, installs and tests it and then provides the delivery and training on products for its clients. It currently has a turnover of £480,000 and Quickfall plans to expand the business nationally. “Flying Start was really helpful,” he says. “I studied mechanical engineering, so I was fine with maths and projections, but the only thing I knew about business was that the difference between the amount of money you bring in and the amount you spend is profit. It turned out even that was wrong, so I knew less than nothing.” Initially, Quickfall’s university was less than helpful. “I was told I was overambitious and that they didn’t want to be associated with a company that would so spectacularly go bankrupt. But just two days after that, I got a deal that now brings in £350,000 turnover per year.” This month, Invate will go national.

'It was great to meet women in the same situation’

• Last year, Isabelle Stead, 28, and two colleagues set up Human Film (UK), a Leeds-based film production company committed to producing cutting-edge films with a conscience

Isabelle’s interest in film began as a young child and she entered the film business, aged 19. “I’d done two years of my degree in film and television and got this opportunity to work on a feature film in Los Angeles and they kept me on. Five years later, when I finally came back, I decided to do a Masters in film and moving image instead.” It was while she was there that she got together with a couple of guys who’d finished their Masters the previous year and they set up their own film business. In 2005, Human Film produced an award-winning feature film, Ahlaam. Made on location in Baghdad, it represented Iraq’s entry in the foreign language section of the 2007 Oscars and Golden Globes. A follow-up film premiered in January and things, she says, have snowballed from there. “We start shooting our next film in September. We want it ready for Cannes next year.” But one problem remained. “We were doing really well creatively, but we didn’t know about the nuts and bolts of running a business. Where would that leave us a couple of years down the line?” Being a female in a male dominated industry, Isabelle jumped at the chance of attending the three-day Women’s Flying Start Programme in January. “I learned about practical things too like how to deal with tax and VAT, as well as how to progress. But it was the energy in the room that was most inspiring. It was great to meet other women in the same situation and realise that setting up your own business as a graduate isn’t completely off the wall.”

'All my views come together in this company’

• Next Spring, Ryan Crewe, 23, will be launching IDO, an organic men’s underwear brand

One day, when Ryan Crewe was in his third year of his degree in advertising and marketing communications at Bournemouth University, he stood in front of the mirror posing in his pants. “I thought, ‘These are kind of sexy, but not really because they’re probably made by some kid in a sweatshop’. “He discovered that most fair-trade, organic clothing was aimed at middle-class, middle-aged women. “I thought what about people like me?” His underwear brand – which he has been preparing to launch since graduating last year – will use ethically sourced labour to manufacture the product. Indeed, Crewe aims to use a factory in Asia that produces its own organic cotton and is set up as a social enterprise with the aim of benefiting the workers who make the clothes with education and healthcare. “Of course setting up your business is a risk, but it’s never felt scary for me because there’s never been any question that it’s the right thing for me to do,” he says. “All my education, all my creativity, all my views come together in this company. It’s true what people say when people say it’s like your baby. It’s a piece of you that you care about so much.” Having been awarded the Trefor Campbell Young Entrepreneur Award this year, Crewe now has the funding he needs. He says the Flying Start Programme was also instrumental in turning this idea into a reality. Even if he fails, he says he won’t regret it. “I’ll have learned so much.

Interesting? Click here to explore further