Retailers at Newcastle’s STACK share insights with entrepreneur students

Independent retailers at Newcastle’s STACK shipping container village gathered recently to advise entrepreneurial students from Northumbria University.

Companies teamed up with Newcastle Business School to share their enterprise experiences with students on the university’s Entrepreneurial Business Management (EBM) programme.

The course expects students to start and operate their own businesses from day one.

Riccardo Burns, a 26-year-old second-year EBM student from Italy, is developing his own clothing business focused on branded and non-branded t-shirts. The visit saw him secure a commission with Sushi Me Rollin, which launched at STACK in the summer.

Riccardo said: “Visiting STACK has been very helpful for me and my team. I believe a good network is important for entrepreneurial success and because I am an entrepreneur, even if only at a very early stage, I am trying to meet as many business owners in the area as I can.

“It was great to meet the fantastic chef-owners of Sushi Me Rollin. They have commissioned us to redesign a t-shirt as part of a branded merchandise range for their growing fan base. I hope our first collaboration will trigger many others.”

The STACK event was part of a week-long bootcamp that involved a number of workshops and visits around Newcastle.

Kellie Forbes-Simpson, Northumbria University lecturer in entrepreneurship, innovation and strategy, said: “Many of our students are running businesses within the retail and leisure sector.

“The aim of collaborating with STACK is to encourage them to network with local businesses to gain insights from personal experiences, whilst emphasising the benefit of building strong networks by speaking with other businesses and professionals in the region.”

She added: “We hope that introducing some of the entrepreneurs and growing businesses at STACK will foster some strong, mutually beneficial relationships with our students.”

Kevin Walker, operations director at STACK, commented: “Since opening the STACK it has become a real social hub in the centre of Newcastle and with the returning students, we are seeing a lot of them using the numerous facilities that we have.

“We actively encourage the local community to get involved with STACK and our students are a very important part of that community, so we are delighted to be able to help out and support them in their enterprise projects.”

STACK, owned and managed by Danieli Holdings Limited, is home to independent shops including a vegan nail salon, ethical clothes store, pet store, barbershop, jewellers, coffee shop and perfumery, along with various bars and cafes.

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