Live YOUR dream
Abertay's Enterprise Centre

We have a number of Enterprise Grants (up to £500) and Enterprise Bursaries (up to £2000) that are awarded throughout the academic year. If you are looking for early stage funding to help develop and validate your business ideas then get in touch with Simon and have a go completing this Enterprise Grant Application: (https://forms.office.com/r/gQiDpVc1tR) 

There are also a wide variety of external funding opportunities and competitions open to Abertay students and graduates. The main ones are:

Converge Challenge

Over the last 9 years, Converge has supported some of the best entrepreneurial talent to emerge from Scotland’s Universities and Research Institutes.

From start-ups to spin-outs, Converge winners are represented across a wide range of industries including the life sciences, technology, engineering, renewables, the creative industries and med tech. Some of their ground-breaking innovations include next generation ultrasound sensors, educational robots, wearable medical devices, trailblazing cancer treatments and robotic, grain monitoring probes. There are four, distinct competition categories including:

Converge Challenge: For more established ideas with high commercial potential and scalability

Creative Challenge: For innovative, new projects operating in the creative sector

Impact Challenge: For mission-led businesses looking to deliver a positive social or environmental impact

KickStart Challenge: For early stage, innovative ideas

Find out what competitions are open for entries and more information here.

Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards

Each April, Abertay University nominates an entry from among our student and recent graduates (up to 2 years post-graduation) to win up to £25,000 worth of equity-free seed funding, support from business experts, exclusive access to an acceleration programme and a fully-funded intern from Santander. Speak to BSV for more information on this.

Scottish EDGE

Scottish EDGE is a competition aimed at identifying and supporting Scotland’s up-and-coming, innovative, high-growth potential entrepreneurial talent. 

Funding rounds usually open twice a year, and BSV can support you to develop your application and be inspired by their winners.

Competition cateogires include: Young EDGE, for people aged 18-30 and Wild Card EDGE for pre-trading businesses.

Get further details here.

We have a range of workshops and events specially designed to help you develop your business idea, test your products and services, and take practical steps towards your goal.

We work with individuals and organisations who are well known in the local business community for their exceptional service to start ups and new businesses.

Some examples are:

All Bell Street Ventures workshops, sessions and learning opportunities are listed on the Abertay Eventbrite page – click here to see what’s going on http://bellstreetventures.eventbrite.com/

Find us in Old College – through the fancy doors on Bell Street and turn left. 

We’ve got a hot-desking space (great if you need to get your head down and get on with writing a business plan or doing a cashflow).

Our collaboration space has furniture that you can move around so it’s easy to work in big or small groups, or on your own if you want a livelier vibe around you.

We have a meeting room which you can book – maybe there are a few of you who need to meet regularly, or you want to speak to a prospective client in a professional setting which reflects well on your business and you as a founder.

And last but not least we have our kitchen – with plenty of seats if you want to take a break, work on your laptop or catch up with the other people starting their businesses with BSV. 

And the best bit? Free coffee!

We can help you develop your business and get you started on your (ad)venture.

We really love the Business Model Canvas (BMC) at Bell Street Ventures and think it’s a great tool to start to put down on paper what’s currently circling around your head. This can help to get buy in from others as well as to take feedback from your peers and advisers.

You can download a copy The Business Model Canvas or pick up a big A1 print from Bell Street Ventures. We think the best way to use the BMC is to grab a stack of post its and sharpies and get throwing your ideas down. They can always be taken off or moved around later.

For some more information on the BMC and how to use it, watch the Strategyzer YouTube playlist here. 

As always, if you want some help and input whilst populating your BMC then book in a session with our Student Enterprise Officer, Simon Fraser, here.

To help get you started, have a go at answering these simple questions:

• Who is your customer?
• What problem or challenge are you solving for them?
• What is the value you’re giving?
• How are you going to find and keep your customers?
• What makes you different?
• How are you going to make money?
• What are your costs?

When you think you’re ready to create your first attempt of creating a pitch deck (a presentation about your business idea) get some guidance here - https://slidebean.com/blog/startups-pitch-deck-examples and have a go. Don’t worry, it’s just your first draft and you’ll be given advice and feedback on it.

Simon Fraser - Enterprise Officer

The main person at Bell Street Ventures is Simon Fraser – he’s the Enterprise Officer and he LOVES to help people think about their business ideas. He worked with Elevator for more than seven years, helping people from all walks of life to start and grow their companies, and joined Abertay in January 2019.  

Lorna Edwards - Head of Business Development

You might also see Lorna Edwards hanging around. She’s the Head of Business Development for Abertay, and has been working on the idea and reality of setting up a support service like BSV for a while.  Lorna has worked in and around social enterprise for more than 20 years and has also developed creative entrepreneurs at home and abroad. 

Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellows

BSV is also home to some of Abertay’s Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellows and some of the start up businesses we are supporting.  The RSE Enterprise Fellowship is a leading business development and training programme for the Higher Education sector, enabling science and technology researchers to develop into successful and world-class entrepreneurs.  

As we develop and grow, we’ll be joined by more home grown startups. And hopefully you!

Abertay Startups

https://takeyourmarks.co.uk/

Fertility Genomics (website coming soon) - Dr Doug Lester and Dr Sean Brown 

We have opportunities for bursary funding to help you concentrate on your business ideas, and are often on the lookout for paid interns for BSV or the businesses we support.  Look back here regularly for current vacancies and opportunities.

We’ve been able to establish Bell Street Ventures thanks to the generosity of the late Bill Sword, and the Santander Universities network.

Bill Sword set up his first business right on the door step of Bell Street Venture’s’ current home in Old College back in 1949. You can find out more about Bill’s life and legacy here - https://www.abertay.ac.uk/life/alumni-and-supporters/thanks-to-our-donors/william-m-sword-a-lasting-legacy/

Abertay are proud to be part of the Santander Universities network, working together to promote opportunities and support student entrepreneurship.  Being part of this network gives Abertay students access to additional resources which they can use to build their skills and make their business more successful.  https://www.santander.co.uk/uk/santander-universities