Venture Lab team celebrates five years of nurturing innovation
1 October 2024
The Hazan Venture Lab is Durham University’s first purpose-built space for entrepreneurship, made possible through a generous £500,000 donation by Hatfield College alumnus Jonathan Hazan.
The following news release was issued by Durham University.
The Venture Lab team are a group of staff dedicated to helping students create new ideas and launch new ventures. With their mission to make the world a better place, 140 startups have emerged in the last five years, with £18 million collectively raised in external funding.
Venture Lab offer various programmes, resources and initiatives to help students and graduates turn their ideas into successful businesses.
Celebrating our extraordinary students and graduates
Our new Student Graduate Enterprise brochure celebrates a small sample of the many success stories nurtured through Venture Lab, demonstrating the impact of everyone involved.
Venture Lab’s support and initiatives have empowered budding entrepreneurs to address global challenges such as climate change, poverty, and sustainability.
In the brochure, you can learn about:
Co-Founders Luke Young and Rory Hornby, who built Alora to solve world hunger by pioneering the sustainable future of food with the world’s first ocean agriculture system.
Founder of The Corporate Law Journal Saffron Gilbert-Kaluba, who created one of the first digital newspapers focused on technological, political, and financial regulatory changes in business.
Co-Founders Beth Holloway and Leo Thomson, a student and graduate collaboration formed to create Local Energy Systems, a startup born out of a shared desire to accelerate decentralised energy development.
Current student and Taka Taka Zero Team Leader Lettie Mantle, an Enactus Durham project based in Mathare, a slum in Nairobi with goals including cleaner communities, empowered youths and food-secure families.
Inspiring the next generation of innovative leaders
Our mission with Venture Lab is fuelled by the generosity and support of our community of alumni, colleagues and partners, who make our work with student and graduate enterprises possible.
In the Student and Graduate Enterprise brochure, you will learn more about some of our supporters, including alumni Jonathan Hazan and Daisy Hill.
The Hazan Venture Lab is our first purpose-built space for entrepreneurship, made possible through a generous £500,000 donation by alumnus Jonathan Hazan.
Daisy Hill’s commitment to supporting Venture Lab includes working directly with entrepreneurs, mentoring, judging startup pitching competitions and chairing networking events.
More information
Read the Student and Graduate Enterprise brochure, showcasing our enterprise initiatives and a small sample of our extraordinary students and graduates making real-world impact.
Learn more about Venture Lab and how we are giving graduates the employability edge.
Explore some of our other Venture Lab Success Stories and our Entrepreneurship Alumni Hub.
About Hatfield College
Hatfield College is a vibrant and welcoming community to which each and every student, alongside other college members, belongs. Established in 1846, as the second college of Durham University, with the explicit purpose of being open to a wide range of students, we greatly value the rich diversity of our college members, who come from all sorts of backgrounds and places of origin, with all sorts of interests, experiences and views. We strive to ensure that all Hatfielders have the opportunities and encouragement to be the best they can be, reflecting the words of our motto, Vel Primus Vel Cum Primis.
About the Hatfield Association
The Hatfield Association was established in 1946, at a time when the future of Hatfield College, Durham University was uncertain – this was the first time that Hatfielders came together and probably the finest proof of the legendary Hatfield spirit.
Our aim is to ensure we have a strong, active and engaged network of Hatfield alumni (graduates), to facilitate and build strong relationships with the College and to support its educational and welfare needs.