College group inspired by top tech boss

From left, Bryony Rogers, 17, James Stephenson, 18, Jess Macey, 18, Unloc managing director Hayden Taylor, Hewlett Packard Enterprise managing director Marc Waters, Harry Knight, 16, and Angus Kane, 18 Picture: Sarah Standing (161552-2370)

Marc Waters, the managing director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the UK and Ireland, visited Portsmouth College yesterday to speak about his entrepreneurial journey, as a guest of the Unloc Enterprise Academy.

Marc held a question and answer session, and ran a masterclass looking at strategies for success and what he looks for in young entrepreneurs.

He said: ‘I really enjoyed talking to the students; there was a great energy and they engaged brilliantly. A couple of the students even came up to me afterwards and said how my talk and workshop has motivated and inspired them to do better – that alone makes it worthwhile.’

One of the many students in the crowd was Alfie Scott. He said: ‘The workshop went really well. Marc was a great speaker and he made a point to engage us as much as he could in what he was saying, rather than us all just sitting there. He integrated his life and journey brilliantly into his presentation and what he said has given me the confidence and motivation to get our project going as soon as we can.’

Marc handed the workshop over to Unloc’s managing director, Hayden Taylor, who gave the students a task to design a business concept that would improve education through the use of technology.

The students pitched their ideas to a panel of experts and first prize was awarded to ID4More, who came up with a concept of a wireless monitoring system that would alert staff to people entering the college building without identification.

They were presented with a certificate and hundreds of pounds worth of prizes – including 12 months of support from the Unloc team and a hamper of gadgets donated by Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Hayden said he was proud of how well the students engaged with Marc and how hard they worked on their concepts.

He said: ‘We are delighted with how well all the students interacted with Marc during his presentation and how well they all worked on their concepts. It was an honour to welcome Marc to Portsmouth College and he brought entrepreneurship to life for the audience.

‘We are looking forward to working closely with the winning team and can see that winning the award has inspired them to get the project started.’