After a relentless week of learning, networking and opportunity-building, the 2011 group of YCE Media winners set sail for their home countries with new knowledge of the creative industries in the UK, and inspiring ideas to integrate into their very own practices as entrepreneurs.
From 10-14 October, 2011 winners met various London-based creative entrepreneurs, UK media specialists and many other industry leaders. Some of them were also lucky to pitch their business ideas in front of seasoned investors and tech-savvy communities.
All 15 entrepreneurs from 13 different countries brought their wide-ranging stories and skill-sets to the table for all to share, whilst also displaying an incredible amount of humility and respect, always eager to learn from their peers’ experiences.
Many thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s YCE week-long programme and helped us put it together.
Monday, 10 October
Masterclass with Ajaz Ahmed, AKQA:
Following a swift presentation from all YCEs and a quick programme run-through, the group headed to Farringdon station for its first masterclass with Ajaz Ahmed, founder and Chairman of AKQA, the world’s most awarded digital agency. The group heard Ajaz's story as an entrepreneur in building the business and discussed the future of marketing in the digital age. An inspiring way to kickstart this week’s activities!
Meeting with Justin Cooke of BIMA:
The group later met Justin Cooke, entrepreneur in his own right as CEO of digital agency Fortune Cookie, and Chair of the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA). Cooke shared BIMA’s objectives to support and promote the British digital industry.
Networking with UK young media entrepreneurs:
The group enjoys its first networking event, with some of the alumni of our sibling UK YCE programme.
Tuesday, 11 October
Power To The Pixel Conference:
Day 2, and the group attended the Power To The Pixel Cross-Media Forum, which focused on new ways for content creators and businesses to create, finance and distribute stories and engage with audiences.
Amongst a range of international experts and case studies, Starlight Runner CEO Jeff Gomez (USA) argued in his keynote that people still enjoy stories to have beginnings, middles and ends, but are increasingly looking for story-lines to be disrupted and transferred from a media platform to another, emphasising the growing value of “communal storytelling engines.”
Wednesday, 12 October
The Pixel Pitch:
The group was back at the Power To The Pixel Forum to witness nine teams of storytellers and producers right across the media industries compete for the ARTE £6,000 Pixel Pitch Prize.
As a long third day came to a close, the group dined and unwound, having the chance to catch up, share their learnings and socialise even more!
Thursday, 13 October
Meeting with Dusan Hamlin, M&C Saatchi Mobile:
YCEs met with Dusan Hamlin, founder of Inside Mobile, now M&C Saatchi Mobile, a leading expert in mobile branding and marketing initiatives across the globe who shared his experience of building a business and integrating it into an agency, sharing a range of projects and the agency’s credo: “Brutal Simplicity of Thought.”
Meeting about support to the UK interactive media sector:
Back at the British Council’s Spring Gardens office, and YCEs enjoy an enlightening session with Andrew Humphries ( TechCity UK) and Sam Michel ( Chinwag) as they discussed a number of UK initiatives which are supporting the UK interactive/digital/tech companies and are helping position the UK as a worldwide industry leader and established place of tech business opportunities for international entrepreneurs.
Roundtable about the developer community in London:
The YCEs then made their first trip to East London’s Silicon Roundabout to see this all in action. First stop: TechHub, an exciting space for tech companies looking for support and business opportunities as start-ups. The group had a lively discussion with experts Ade Oshineye (Google) and Kevin Mcdonagh ( Novoda) about the London developer community, new trends, and how coders are really the 21st century rock stars.
Meeting with Unit 9:
YCEs ended their day meeting the team at Unit 9, an award-winning digital creative production company, and seeing their brilliant range of work.
Friday, 14 October
Visit to Digital Agencies:
Continuing its East-London trek into tech and creative agencies, the group visited Moving Brands, an innovative branding agency that champions unique research methods, creative processes and a strategic use of technologies, and Lessrain, a design & build production house creating rich media user experiences on digital platforms. Both presentations yielded great conversations!
Investment Session (ETI Dynamics):
YCEs Jurga, Marc, and Titash had the opportunity to present their respective ventures to a group of angel investors from ETI Dynamics, who later provided constructive feedback and group conversation as to how to better pitch and secure a funding partner going forward. Well done guys!
Minibar networking:
Ending the day at the amazing offices of ad agency Mother London to see London's meet-up scene in action for Minibar's regular get together of, in their own words, '250 web entrepreneurs, developers, tech investors and other geeks' who all heard short introductions from, and got to network with, the international entrepreneurs.
From Saturday onwards...
Saturday, 15 October — YCEs farewell lunch:
The YCEs said goodbye over lunch. All celebrated a week of new friendships and new opportunities. Several YCEs with film specialisms remained in London for a few more days to take part in the industry programme at London Film Festival.
Monday, 17 October — Pitching and networking in the UK Screen industry with David Pope:
As part of the film programme the YCEs had the pleasure of a tailored session with UK director, producer, screenwriter and consultant David Pope who helped YCEs to develop their pitching and networking skills in the UK screen industry, from development, finance, pitching and outreach.
Monday, 18 - Tuesday, 19 October — London Film Festival
The group continued attending workshops, talks, networking events, and most importantly film screenings as part of LFF.
Stay tuned for many more project updates and reflections, but in the meantime, here are some ending thoughts by some of this year's YCEs about their experience...
