Catch up with the Apprentice's Ella Jade Bitton

Ahead of tonight’s Apprentice we caught up with contestant Ella Jade Bitton, former Kings College London Business Club (KCLBC) President and NACUE alumna. The BSc Business Management graduate will be gracing our screens tonight as she takes on 19 other candidates to prove she has what it takes to be Lord Sugar’s Apprentice. We spoke to her about her time as an enterprise society president and her relationship with NACUE.

ellajade bitton

Ella Jade, 23, has been involved in enterprise from a young age having acquired an interior design concession in Harrods for her family’s business. Ella Jade’s Ella Jade Interiors is her main focus as she has hopes to make the brand a household name. She says: “Our main showrooms are London based. The aim is to expand internationally.”

During Ella Jade’s time as KCLBC President she took on many tasks, organising networking events and even arranged a trip to Silicon Valley. KCLBC members went out to visit companies like Google and Microsoft, and got to establish relationships with tech professionals. Ella Jade also helped to raise sponsorship whilst running the society.

She explains: “Sponsorship was very high at £20,000 which went towards the National Student Apprentice and funding students.”

She sees enterprise societies are great for setting students apart. It inspired her to push on with her business, she continues: “[Enterprise societies] give you that something extra. It’s very hands-on experience, teaches you valuable skills [such as] learning to work in a team, negotiating and all those skills you need in creating business.”

Ella Jade’s relationship with NACUE has gone as far back as when she was our London Regional Chair. Her role involved creating collaborations between universities and was heavily event-led. She names our Leaders Summit as her favourite NACUE event, she continues: “It joins all presidents together...It’s a great community [that has strength in it] and is a great platform.”

Looking at the current startup scene for young people Ella Jade feels that although there has recently been support from government there needs to be more down from at a grassroots level. She believes: “...more needs to be done from the ground up. Students need to showcase what they need in terms of support.”

“In our enterprise society we would create events and structure. Students needs to have their own say in it.”

Catch Ella Jade and the rest of Lord Sugar’s Apprentices this evening on BBC 1 at 9pm.

We’ll definitely be tuning in!

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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'.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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Alex Deung

Society President, Entrepreneurs Durham

It has been a great pleasure working closely with NACUE. NACUE has supported me both on big and small issues within my role. Without NACUE’s support, Entrepreneurs Durham wouldn’t be where it is today.

Wendy Funnell

Head, Centre for Entrepreneurship

The pleasure of seeing young people start something from nothing and watching them as they’re growing is wonderful. If we hadn’t had NACUE, we couldn’t do a lot of what we’re doing now. I can absolutely, categorically say that.

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FE Student, Enterprise Society

I am enjoying it (the enterprise society) a lot, and it’s great to be achieving something real. So often in college we plan to the point of doing the activity but then never actually do it.