Unleashing student potential
Accounting and Financial Management graduate Adam saw a new business opportunity based on his own experiences working part-time jobs. After approaching the Loughborough Enterprise Network for advice and funding support, Adam was able to turn his initial idea into a reality, with ambitious plans for the future.
The business – HyreHub – delegates freelance tasks such as web development, graphic design and social media marketing from businesses and the community to a workforce of talented UK university students, helping them earn money and develop their skills whilst working flexibly on their own terms.
From medicine to accounting
Originally an aspiring medic interested in biology and chemistry at school, Adam’s GCSE results meant he couldn’t study chemistry at his chosen sixth form, so instead he chose to study biology, economics and maths. During sixth form he enjoyed studying finance, eventually deciding against medicine with new plans to become an accountant or economist, and therefore started applying for accounting and finance degree programmes.
Loughborough was the second open day Adam attended and he fell in love with the University straight away.
As soon as I stepped off the coach and saw the expansive campus, I knew this was a great place where I wanted to be – it was amazing! The day I received my golden ticket confirming my place at Loughborough was so joyous.
Bright ideas
During his degree, Adam was looking for extra income and worked various part-time jobs but found it difficult balancing work and study, especially during exam time. Due to a lack of flexibility in his working hours, Adam would leave jobs around the exam period and then find another afterwards.
In second year, Adam and his friend Hakim wanted to start their own business, but weren't sure what to pursue. Meanwhile, with chunks of free time during the day, they found that they didn’t necessarily want regular part-time jobs with set hours to earn money, but rather an occasional amount of work offering more flexibility. Possessing skills such as web development, photo editing and graphic design, they realised that they could monetise their skills using freelance websites. However, due to the huge number of other freelancers around the world advertising on these sites, Adam and his friends did not receive any work; they also noticed that the sites were charging clients a lot more than expected.
This is when their business idea was born – a marketplace for everyday people and small businesses to get tasks done by student freelancers based in the UK. For clients, the benefits would be more competitive rates but the same high quality work, whilst students would be able to earn money, enhance their CV, and have the flexibility to manage their own time and workload.
Getting started
After completing a placement year in the operational finance team at Howdens Drainery – a kitchen manufacturer supplying large retailers – and with Hakim now studying at another university, Adam took the business idea to the Loughborough Enterprise Network (LEN). He attended a range of sessions covering everything needed to turn their idea into a reality, including discussions on the company name and logo, refining the product/service, target customer profiles, how to buy a domain and get online, and how to incorporate the business.
Without the sessions, the business wouldn’t have progressed as far or as quickly. A lot of founders waste time on things such as logo design and need pushing in the right direction. The LEN sessions allow you to do your own thing but also have structure to keep you moving. It’s not about perfection – it’s about taking your idea forward to something tangible and getting your MVP (minimal viable product) out there.
Adam also made use of LEN’s recommended reading and resources which put him on a steady trajectory to the final product where he felt confident enough to apply for funding.
Finding the funds
At the end of the ten-week programme of sessions, Adam was successful in applying for the LEN Initiate Fund of £500 which helped him find a developer and graphic designer to create a basic app for the business.
LEN also offer a Start-up Fund of £1,000 and Adam was invited to apply and pitch for the money, to which he was successful and very thankful for this cash injection.
Upon completion of their studies, Adam and Hakim were reunited to lead the business and invited their friend Dami (also a Loughborough alumnus) to join them, bringing more entrepreneurial flair to help push the business forward.
Having all graduated the team started working full-time, meaning they could put money from their salaries into the product, allowing it to bloom into what they have today with improved appearance and functionality. Adam is currently on the EY graduate scheme working as a Senior Part-Qualified Accountant in the audit department for banking and capital markets.
Looking ahead
In future, Adam and team are looking to better understand what students and businesses want from their service in order to stand out from the competition. They also want to automate the current manual processes to become a self-managed marketplace where, for example, businesses can post their own tasks online rather than by email. In addition they are looking to move the platform from the current app to a mainly website form, understanding that not everyone uses mobile devices for the service, particularly businesses posting jobs.
With ambitious goals, the team would like to have around 500 enthusiastic and talented student freelancers from every UK university on their site that offer affordable and quality work, targeting newly created businesses that are just starting out.
Entrepreneurial environment
When asked if he has always been entrepreneurial, Adam told us the environment you’re in can heavily influence this, with two friends who did the ‘Year in Enterprise’ at Loughborough, another friend who created an app, and the former Executive Chairman of Shazam being a Loughborough alumnus.
Being around people who are entrepreneurial in spirit encourages and gives you the confidence to do your own thing.
Words of advice
We asked Adam if he had any advice for those considering entrepreneurship.
Above all, be inquisitive. Find out what resources your university has that can help you such as the careers service. Sometimes people expect things to be done for them rather than going and asking for help from their lecturers, the Students’ Union, university leaders etc. Otherwise get networking – look online and on social media, join enterprise communities, see if there’s anyone that can help – there’s so many tips out there such as how to incorporate, how to get your logo created, and lists of graphic designers.
You also need to be resourceful – see what you can squeeze from what you have. I was originally going to spend most of my funding on marketing and promotion until I was advised to be resourceful and only spend on what I needed, and to shop around for the best price. That’s when I became metric-based, asking potential designers how many hours work I could get and what they could do in that time, how long the work would take and cost etc.
Why Loughborough?
Finally we asked Adam if he had any thoughts for those considering applying to study at Loughborough.
There are so many societies to get involved in – I was part of the Spanish speaking society and took Spanish classes – there’s loads of other language classes you can do. If you like playing or watching sports there’s always something going on, the facilities are great and everything is there on one of the largest campuses in the UK – it’s a great place!
In terms of teaching the lecturers really care about you, taking the time to chat and answer questions, offer help and reach out. There’s a great camaraderie and everything is well-structured with the placement year as you know what you need to do and when with lots of support available, such as the Placements Office taking the time to run a mock interview for me. Loughborough just isn’t comparable to any other university.
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