A pair of graduates from UCL entered our Varsity Pitch Competition 2013 with their company bio-bean. Arthur Kay and Benjamin Harriman pitched their business ‘bio-bean’ to a panel of expert judges and triumphed in the Tata Blue Skies Award for Disruptive business category.  

1479541_623295937729673_1375862129_n

Bio-bean is an innovative green energy company that collects used coffee grounds and turns them into fuel. The used coffee grounds are then turned into biodiesel and biomass pellets that are sold on. We caught up with the guys a year on to see what they've been up to and how they're progressing. 

It's been a year since you entered the Varsity Pitch Competition 2014 and you've been very busy! What have you been up to since?

Since the Varsity Pitch, bio-bean has progressed a huge amount. We've grown our team to 12 people, including experts in a number of fields and we've taken on our first round of investment. We've also secured a 20,000 sqft processing facility, which has enabled us to carry out a series of large-scale trials with prominent coffee companies.

What exciting things have you got in the pipeline?

Now that we've established our processing plant, we can increase our production to full scale within London. Once we've done this – we’ll scale out our operations across the UK, before expanding internationally.

Add comment

Security code
Refresh

X

Stay updated!

Join our mailing list to receive inspiration, great offers, event recommendations and much more.


Subscribe
  1. Our Impact
  2. Our Mission
  3. Our model

We've achieved a great deal in a short number of years, though there's much more too do in supporting our mission of 'Powering the Enterprise Generation'.

32,000

Students

19,926

Event attendees

20,505

Followers

42,000

Reach

16,512

Businesses

43,439

Jobs

Powering the Enterprising Generation

Our mission is to support the development of education and student engagement throughout college and universities by championing student enterprise societies and peer-to-peer learning. NACUE started from an extraordinary movement in student entrepreneurship, providing young individuals with a platform to be experimental, creative and inspiring in their approach to enterprise and entrepreneurship, encouraging a bottom-up approach to inspiring the next generation.


Today, we see over 200 enterprise societies, powered by peer-to-peer groups, who are championing the success of young people throughout their interactive programmes by forging collaborative relationships with their institutions to provide greater experience and development opportunities for their peers. Establishing regional links with locals SME’s who are keen to open their doors to emerging talented, proactive and enthusiastic graduates perpetuates this.


Our work is dedicated to supporting the development and encouragement of entrepreneurship amongst young individuals and forms the sole purpose of NACUE. To learn more about NACUE and the services we produce, click here.

As a not-for-profit, we raise charitable donations that allow us to widen the opportunities available to young people in relation to enterprise and entrepreneurship, strengthening student engagement, the quality of education and connecting and representing student enterprise societies and student entrepreneurs worldwide.

NACUE is a charitable organisation that supports 32,000 students and young people every year. As funding becomes harder to obtain, we rely on the generous support of donors to ensure our programs can continue to change the lives and aspirations of the younger generation.


A donation of any size goes a long way to furthering our work and really is greatly appreciated. Every gift matters in aiding our mission of ‘Powering the Enterprising Generation' but we mainly rely upon the generosity of our members and alumni to do this. By making a single or regular donation you can make a big difference. To learn more about how you can donate, please follow the links below.



 

Large national network

NACUE are delighted to have supported a huge number of student-led societies over the years. You can see the number of established student-led societies on an interactive map below

 

College
University
Society

 

 

Who we work with

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are at the very core of NACUE, everything we do is to better the startup and self employment ecosystem. We believe that entrepreneurs will shape the future, and we bolster this through our events, our network and our advocacy.

Students

NACUE works with students in Colleges and Universities right across the UK, helping support them in their entrepreneurial goals and connect them with like minded peers.

Educators

NACUE works collaboratively with educators and academics in supporting the development of entrepreneurial mindsets in young people.

Our events

Our events offer the young people we work with the opportunity to connect with our wider network, the experts and seasoned entrepreneurs in our community and the chance to be inspired to take the leap of faith into entrepreneurship. These events are attended by students and graduates from universities and colleges up and down the UK, as well as students from across Europe. Student Societies take centre stage at our events, alongside innovators, game changers and trail blazers of the UK startup ecosystem.

The difference we make

CONNECT WITH NACUE

 

     

Support

Join our mailing list to receive inspiration, event recommendations, great offers and much more.
Please wait