You want flies with that? LEC student Josh Ackroyd wins enterprise competition
Fourth year MSci Environmental Biology student Josh Ackroyd led a team that won Social Storm, a food security-themed competition run by Lancaster University’s Enterprise Centre. Read about Josh’s winning idea below.
Basic info
4th year Environmental Biology (MSci) student. I also work part time for Green Lancaster; alongside running volunteer days I organise all the sustainable cooking/eating events.
Can you tell us more about the competition?
The competition was called ‘Social Storm’ and was run by Lancaster University Enterprise Centre. People who had ideas around the problems of food security or sustainable housing first presented their general ideas. From this, the most popular ideas were taken forward in groups of 6 or 7. We had 24 hours in which to develop the idea into a product or service. The winner was decided by a panel of judges who were experts on enterprise and awarded £1000 towards taking their idea forward.
How did you find out about it?
I first found out about the competition from an email sent to all LEC students. It was also advertised in many Lancaster newsletters such as My Lancaster and Squeak.
Who were you competing against?
We were competing against other Lancaster Students. There was a broad range of students with different backgrounds. In our teams we had to present our idea to a panel of judges that were experts in enterprise.
What was your winning idea?
Our idea was an insect protein-based food company. The concept is to slowly make people comfortable with eating insects by incorporating them into familiar food products such as burgers. We plan to start small on Lancaster University campus selling at the farmer’s market, and eventually expand to other campuses and online etc.
How do you think your idea made you stand out?
We created an idea that was very feasible to do with the £1000 and could also be scaled up to have a real far-reaching impact.
What made you think of the insect burger idea?
I first ate and learnt of the nutritional benefits and sustainability of edible insects at a visit to the Natural History Museum a couple of years ago. I discovered a gap in the market after struggling to find edible insects available to purchase in the UK. From here my team and I developed a business plan and tried to create a product that could be easily made on campus and that people would find familiar. Our original idea was for insect ‘snack bars’ but, after feedback from the judges saying that our product should be a meat substitute we opted for burgers instead.
What are you going to use the £1000 for?
The £1000 will be spent on creating our first batch of insect burgers and on creating a brand identity (logo etc).
When do you hope to start selling your insect burgers? And what will you call them?
The burgers should be on sale in Alexander square by the end of Lent term. So keep a look out for some tasty critters! We’re still not 100% on the name so if anyone has any suggestions…. The BugMac?
Has the competition helped you think about what you want to do in the future?
This competition has definitely opened my eyes to how transferable skills learnt in a LEC degree are to a business setting. I am even thinking about creating my own start-up after graduation – an edible insect catering van.
