2024 Open Business Creators Fund now open

The OU has launched this year’s funding competition – known as the Open Business Creators Fund – which offers grants from £1,000 to £10,000 to support our students and alumni with their business ventures.

Run in collaboration with Santander and funded by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), there are two funding streams for students and alumni to apply to – commercial enterprise and social enterprise, with categories for ideas, early-stage, and established businesses.

Katy Schnitzler, a current PhD student and founder of MIST Workshops Ltd, won funding in 2023. She said: “Completing the application itself allows you to consider your business in new ways – from sustainable and ethical approaches to meeting equality initiatives. It enables you to highlight your unique offering, your competitors, and how you may grow and adapt. Since winning the prize money, the team at The Open University, and indeed Santander, have offered support and engagement opportunities.”

MBA alumnus James Markey also won a grant for his business UNI SIM a few years ago. He was then put forward for the Santander X UK Awards in 2022 where he won £15,000, and later won a prize at the Santander X Global Awards in 2023.

Supporting National Apprenticeship Week

The OU held an employer webinar during National Apprenticeship Week (5-11 February), exploring how apprenticeships can be a valuable way of plugging skills gaps and boosting talent pipelines in an organisation.

Skills for life – How apprenticeships can enable career changers was hosted by Phil Kenmore, the OU’s Director of Corporate Development and Partnerships. He was joined by Gill Cronin, Director of Operations at The 5% Club, and a panellist from North Yorkshire Police, with whom the OU partners to offer the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA). This blended programme of practical working experience and theory has been collaboratively designed and delivered by the OU and College for Policing.

Also in February, the Business School relaunched its Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) with a new cohort starting. 

The Bottom Line delves into the declining number of UK nightclubs

The new series of OU / BBC co-production The Bottom Line has continued with its latest episode, The Bottom Line - Where's the life in nightlife? - BBC Sounds which explores the reasons for the decline in the number of nightclubs in the UK. REKOM UK, which owns the Atik and Pryzm brands, blame the cost-of-living crisis hurting its customers, along with increased operating costs. But is there something else going on?

Professor of Work and Organisation Studies Cinzia Priola and Dr Oznur Yurt, Senior Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management, are the academic consultants for this eight-part series, which is hosted by OU honorary graduate Evan Davis (pictured).

This business conversation show explores key topics affecting businesses and asks people at the top to give their insight. It is first broadcast on Thursdays at 20:30 on BBC Radio 4, with repeats on Mondays at 11:30, and is also available on-demand via BBC Sounds.

Taking the wrapper off chocolate at our ‘transformative’ MBA residential

The Business School held the first of this academic year’s MBA residential schools this month, where students got the chance to explore a real-life case study, Tony’s Chocolonely, in collaboration with their peers and tutors.

Students were asked to address consultancy-style challenges, including how Tony’s Chocolonely grows in size, increases its share of sales, and spreads the message of ethical production across the sector. Students also had the chance to engage in intricate discussions around the ethics of management, whistleblowing and how there is more than one way to be ethical.

The residential school is a key part of the MBA experience and provides the opportunity for students to learn from each other, to build their peer-to-peer support networks, and to think about forthcoming assignments. It also offered tutors the chance to spend time working with students to gain insights from their workplace practices across many different sectors and industries.

Vikki Simpson, one of the students, said: “The B870 residential was transformative. It brought together so many of us that felt like we were ‘not the typical MBA student’ to discover there is no such thing as typical. I left feeling more connected to the course and my co-students. And although exhausted, totally energised.”

Providing insight for Parliamentary ‘green skills’ report

Lecturer in Entrepreneurship Dr Inge Hill (pictured) was interviewed by the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) for its recent POSTnote on ‘Green skills in education and employment’.

This briefing outlines what green skills are, why they are important for net zero, challenges and opportunities for skills development and related policy issues.

As a contributor and reviewer, Inge explored the issues business advisers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face due to their own limited knowledge. She also discussed the challenges education providers face and successes the OU has with supporting the needed upskilling of people in society with quality degree education and free online educational training including via OpenLearn.

The POSTnote report cites Inge’s recent SCiLAB blog on what is most important when integrating green skills and sustainability into learning and teaching strategies.

Extending OUBS’ international development impact

Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management Dr Charles Mbalyohere chaired a landmark Energy Expo and conference in a semi-rural location in Eastern Uganda in late 2023.

The event was inspired by Charles’ work on improving access to affordable and clean energy in the region. He was the chair as part of his most recent field work, in a long-standing relationship, with the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) energy sector as various partners showcased their products and services as well as taking part in the conference.

A highlight was the appearance of SSA’s pioneer locally-built electric bus, which sparked lots of excitement (pictured)! The partnership with the manufacturer of the bus and other electric vehicle (EV) start-ups has extended Charles’ research into electric mobility, especially given the possibility of improving energy storage, and consequently access, by repurposing expired EV batteries.

Charles said: “This event demonstrated a real need to shift such engagements from large urban centres to rural locations where most people in SSA still live and grapple with low rates of electricity access. Combined with the planned follow-up activities, this is a great example of the international development impact of FBL (Faculty of Business and Law) research.”

SHORT COURSE SPOTLIGHT: Creative thinking for the workplace

What is creativity and why is it an essential skill that you can lose over time? This course takes a look at the fundamentals of creativity and how it is linked to personal and professional development, organisational culture, and team problem-solving performance.

In this course, you will reflect on your creative journey so far, while learning new tools, skills, and approaches to add value to your teams and organisations. Explore how to reawaken your own creativity and how you can bring more creativity into your professional and personal life.

This course is suitable for individuals, entrepreneurs and managers in any enterprise or industry sector, seeking to boost creativity at the individual or team levels.

What a save – ex-footballer turned Financial Controller

After deciding to hang up his gloves and leave professional football behind, James Bransgrove found himself chasing new goals off the pitch. Now Financial Controller for a hospitality chain, James shares how his OUBS studies fast-tracked his career and helped him develop the skills he needed to get ahead in business.

Aged 21 and struggling with a lack of fulfilment, goalkeeper James was feeling ‘pretty unemployable’ until he discovered the OU. He enrolled on his first Business Management (Accounting) module and has never looked back.

Simplifying project management with Keith

MBA alumnus Keith Grinsted has shared an article on our Professional Knowledge Bank exploring how to break down project management and offering two main methods to consider – PRINCE 2 and AGILE.

The freelance business writer suggests that there are only three main elements to consider when you manage any project – people; resources (money, materials, equipment); and time.

Read more about how to simplify project management.

International Women’s Day mini conference: Voice and Protest

Friday 8 March, 13:30 – 17:00

This online mini conference on the afternoon of International Women’s Day, organised by the Gendered Organisational Practice (GOP) research cluster, features three external speakers in Dr Marilyn Poon (13:30 – 14:30), Prof Kate Kenny (14:45 – 15:45) and Prof Amina Mama (16:00 – 17:00)