Tughans were delighted to be involved in the inaugural NWRC’s IDEATOR Awards which saw £4k of cash prizes being awarded to college students, staff, and recent alumni. The competition, run by NWRC’s first ever Entrepreneur in Residence, and co-founder of Startacus, Alastair Cameron, was created to encourage and reward entrepreneurial thinking. Alastair wanted to drive entrepreneurship as a career pathway and inspire students to take their first steps into business.

A host of submitted business ideas were whittled down to 13 finalists. Those shortlisted were invited to compete for one of the seven cash prizes on offer by pitching their ideas and early-stage ventures to a panel of esteemed judges at a special IDEATOR Awards event.

Sports science student Conan McShane who pitched a business idea that aims to be the ‘Google Earth of sporting facilities’ came out on top as the college’s first ever IDEATOR awards winner.  Conan is the owner of digital platform ‘Fitness Maps’ which hugely impressed the judging panel at the IDEATOR final pitch event which was held at Strand Road Campus.

Aoife Murray, Associate in Tughans’ Contracts and Technology team,  alongside fellow judges  Susan McKane, Kieran Phelan and John Carson, was inspired by the spirit of entrepreneurship on display. “Although we could only hand out seven awards, there were so many great ideas, I have no doubt that all our finalists have bright futures ahead. NWRC show real commitment in driving forward entrepreneurship and startup culture throughout the College, so when Tughans were offered the opportunity to be involved in the IDEATOR Awards, we were delighted to lend our support.”