The Future is Now: Young Founders, Entrepreneurs and Innovators

Thought about starting your own company? Meet the people who made it happen - and all before they graduated.

Join the University Incubator, Future Worlds, this Fresher's Week to welcome a host of the country’s most talented and prestigious entrepreneurs and business experts.

Be inspired by the story of Josh Valman – former teenage entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and the architect behind one of the globes most ambitious supply chain consultancies.

Discover how Sharif Alvis created an award winning startup, Proofer, during his studies at the University of Southampton and secured hundreds of thousands in investment in London’s entrepreneurial epicentre.

Connect with Researchably, a current on-campus university startup, who are incubating their entrepreneurial dreams and striving to become the biggest player in AI-driven research discovery software.

Learn from business expert and Future Worlds Mentor Ben Clark, who has initiated and propelled the growth of companies from enterprise software to homeland security and is the current Director of Growth Shack.

Find out how you too can create your own future with the help of Future Worlds while you study here at Southampton.

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Speakers

Josh Valman (RPD International, Managing Director)

Josh is Managing Director of manufacturing firm RPD International. A former teenage entreprenuer, he built his experience as a manufacturing and engineering consultant while he was still at school and founded his first company at the age of 17. He manages a global supply chain which helps companies efficiently develop products from design through to mass manufacture.

Sharif Alvis (Proofer, Founder)

Sharif is an Aeronautics and Astronautics student and a budding entrepreneur. Originally from London, he explored several business ideas in his youth before developing the Proofer concept in his spare time over the past three years. He successfully pitched the social media management software at a Dragons’ Den event on campus and is ready to scale and launch the platform.

Researchably (Mauro Cozzi, Przemek Zientala, and Maciej Szpakowski, Founders)

Researchably is a smart academic search tool that uses powerful AI algorithms to accelerate the discovery of relevant research papers. The startup was founded by University of Southampton students Maciej Szpakowski, Przemek Zientala and Mauro Cozzi, and has launched a free browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that will evolve with increasing data into a cross-platform digital academic assistant.

Ben Clark (Growth Shack, Director)

Ben is a specialist in taking companies from startup to scaleup, most recently with Southampton-based Snowflake Software. His passion for business began during an MBA at the University of Southampton’s School of Management, which led to cross cultural experience with venture capitalists and startups in Africa and a post as Chief Operating Officer at software as a service company, iPresent.

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Tuesday 26th September, 11am - 1pm, The Cube, Southampton University Students Union