At Happen we value our links at Oxford, particularly with the Said Business School at Oxford University, the upcoming ‘Silicon Valley comes to Oxford’ forum and Oxford Entrepreneurs. So we were delighted when we got a call from the students running The OxPrentice to come lend a hand. The OxPrentice is a series of innovative workshops that are held by Oxford Entrepreneurs designed to test participants’ core entrepreneurial skills and to prove themselves to their friends and employers.

The purpose of the iPhone Application Development Task on the day was designed to introduce its members to cutting edge, innovative mobile technology, as well as examine the contestants’ ability to think of innovative new ideas and create marketing strategies to ensure that their product had the best chance of success. This was tested by way of a short pitch after the preparation had been completed. Judging the two teams were professional mobile application developers and a marketing & innovation consultant, and between them, they decided the winner – an innovative real-time travel information application that is being developed as we speak, chosen for its simplicity, ease of build and speed to market.

Hayato Maeda, Co-Director of The OxPrentice for Oxford Entrepreneurs said “We had the pleasure of having Vijit from Happen come and speak to us about innovation, frameworks in which to inspire innovation and how this can be applied to marketing. The presentation was delivered in a humorous and enjoyable way and was invaluable when it came to informing the students. It was particularly useful seeing what kind of framework the professionals use for marketing, especially with the detailed examples demonstrating the value of it. Vijit was a great speaker and knew his audience well. He was also very useful when it came to providing guidance to students with their ideas and was great support. There was resounding feedback from the event that Happen's input was very useful and enjoyable. We are certainly keen to work with them again and hope they will be able to come to more of our events!”

Visit www.oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk to learn more.