Buxton Businesses Benefit From Students' Ingenuity
23 November 2010
Working with Claudio and the University of Derby Buxton was a terrific collaboration for us. It was great to have the chance to 'commission' a research project that we simply didn't have the resources to take on ourselves.
”Jennifer Ward, Marketing Manager at Buxton Opera House
Two Buxton businesses - one well established, the other newly emerging - are both reaping the rewards of projects carried out with postgraduate students at the University of Derby Buxton.
Over the past year Buxton Opera House and Peak Adrenaline have both received expert help from University Tourism Management academics and students as part of the Ingenuity Programme. Ingenuity is an East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) funded programme designed to improve the performance of small businesses across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, by giving them access to the expertise and resources of its universities.
Through the programme new outdoor adventure business Peak Adrenaline paired with Masters degree student Rebecca Owen, who worked with them as a consultant for six months, helping with their start-up business plan.
Oliver Hallam, Director of Peak Adrenaline, which organises group activities in Peak District National Park, said: "The help I received from Rebecca was incredibly valuable to me when setting up the business.
"I was really just at the ideas stage when she came on board, and so the work she did researching customers, prices, suppliers and on advertising and marketing was fantastic. In fact, the business plan that she worked on helped me to secure a loan from the bank and a grant from the Peak District National Park Authority."
Rebecca Owen, aged 37 from Disley, carried out the consultancy work as part of her Masters degree in Tourism Management. She said: "I really enjoyed the project, researching markets and ensuring that Oliver had the right business plan. Gaining experience in a tourism business was incredibly useful to me and I hope that Peak Adrenaline go on to be very successful."
A second Ingenuity project involved Buxton Opera House, which worked with Claudio Riboldi, a postgraduate student at the University of Derby Buxton, on a survey to better understand its customers. Claudio, a Masters student from Italy at the University of Derby Buxton on an Erasmus exchange, carried out a market research study.
Claudio said: "I designed and carried out a research project on customers to the Opera House, analysing feedback from the survey to gain an understanding of the reach of their advertising and marketing for group bookings. Carrying out the research project was an interesting experience for me as I am studying a module in managing tourism, it also helped me to develop my English."
Jennifer Ward, Marketing Manager at Buxton Opera House, said: "'Working with Claudio and the University of Derby Buxton was a terrific collaboration for us. It was great to have the chance to 'commission' a research project that we simply didn't have the resources to take on ourselves. The results were excellent and very informative.
"We very much look forward to future collaborations between our organisations as part of the Ingenuity programme."
Peter Wiltshier, who leads on work-based consultancy at the University's Buxton campus, confirms that projects funded through the Centre for Entrepreneurial Management such as these, encourage students to explore career opportunities and apply their new skills in a highly practical way.
For more information on the Ingenuity Programme or to find out how your business can benefit, contact the University's Centre for Entrepreneurial Management on 01332 591896 or visit www.derby.ac.uk/cem/ingenuity
For more information please contact Press & PR Officer Joanna Colburn on 01332 593004 or 07775 036988, or email j.colburn@derby.ac.uk
