Organisations offered fresh ideas for positive change and growth through #NBSBright challenge

NBS students will bring new perspectives to real business challenges

Supported by experienced academics, groups of students from a range of courses, including Business, Business Management and Entrepreneurship, Accounting and Finance, Marketing, and Economics, will apply their studies to real business issues and present detailed analysis, findings and recommendations to the challenge submitters.

The initiative aligns with the mission of NBS, to provide research and education that contributes to academic excellence with a positive impact on people, business and society. Importantly the challenge also ensures that every student engages in experiential learning and gets the chance to apply their learning to real organisational issues.

Head of Personalisation and Experiential Learning at NBS, Amanda Thompson, said: “#NBSBright is designed to help businesses of all sizes to grow and prosper through the bright ideas of the next generation of business professionals.

“Our highly motivated students have gained a wealth of knowledge during their studies and they are eager to apply their skills to help organisations recover, grow and succeed.

“We’re inviting businesses to submit a range of challenges, from building brand and becoming more responsive to customer demands, to coping with market volatility, capitalising on success, growing profits or meeting sustainability goals. The students can tackle a wide range of issues and undertake research and inquiry that organisations really need to do but perhaps haven’t got the time or resource to dedicate at present.”

#NBSBright provides an opportunity for organisations to gain insight and solutions to challenges such as the need for business diversification, process restructuring, costing, pricing, or issues such as managing remotely and staff wellbeing.

This is the third year that #NBSBright has taken place, with organisations which took part last year expressing their gratitude for the student insights.

Katherine Jennick, creator of What's your strength?®  - an award-winning tool empowering people across the globe, has taken on several of the suggestions and has stepped up her marketing, including entering two business start-up awards. She has since been a finalist in the Sole-to-Sole category at The Small Awards and the winner of the Consumer Services Start-Up of the Year for the Midlands StartUp Awards National Series.

Katherine said: “The work produced by students was a high standard and really helpful for me to drive my business forward. They offered insightful advice and ideas about my marketing strategy which I then implemented. I hope it’s a really positive experience for all the students and local business involved in the #NBSBright challenge this year.”

Sarah Whiteside, director of mk Profile Systems, manufacturers of modular construction kit for factory automation, commented: “It was very satisfying to be able to help the students with some real-life business experience. Some of their questions really got us thinking.”

Organisations are invited to submit a challenge or research topic by Friday 19 August and will only need to commit to a virtual introductory meeting in October and a final presentation in November. For further information contact NBSStudentProjects@ntu.ac.uk

NBS is accredited by EQUIS and AACSB, which are internationally recognised hallmarks of excellence and quality for business education, and also holds Small Business Charter accreditation (SBC), a mark of excellence for business schools with expertise in supporting small businesses, student entrepreneurship and engagement in the local economy.