A student at Northumbria University has launched his first business
with a social mission to help raise awareness of ocean pollution and save
marine life.
Nathan Smith, 21 from York, is a second year student on the
Entrepreneurial Business Management (EBM) programme at Newcastle Business
School.
Following a trip to Thailand last summer, he was struck by the level
of rubbish and plastics littering beautiful beaches and wondered how he could
encourage people to clean up and raise awareness of ocean pollution.
In response, he’s set up OceanJunkie, a social enterprise which
recycles discarded fishing nets into bracelets. The money raised from bracelet
sales is then reinvested to help organise and fund community beach clean ups
along the North East Coast in a bid to reduce ocean pollution and encourage
conservation activities.
“OceanJunkie is start-up business dedicated to helping to fight the
world’s plastic problem. We upcycle GhostNets into bracelets with a mission to
save marine life and give them back their ocean,” says Nathan.
“Every bracelet purchased represents a marine life saved from a tragic
death. We want to rid the world of GhostNets and hope the awareness we raise
through people buying our bracelets and supporting the OceanJunkie movement
will help to bring in regulations for the proper disposal of fishing gear.”
Nathan’s bracelets are handmade in the UK from nets pulled out of the
ocean. Each bracelet is unique as every net is slightly different. They come in
three colours and retail online for £5 plus postage and packing trading under
@JunkieOcean on Facebook and Instagram.
During his studies on Northumbria University’s pioneering
Entrepreneurial Business Management programme, Nathan has been encouraged to
develop his passion for marine conservation into a commercial, sustainable
enterprise.
“The EBM programme has given me the resources, confidence and
motivation to create OceanJunkie,” says Nathan. “Prior to coming to university,
I knew that I wanted to set up in business but I felt that I didn’t know enough
to go it alone. I heard about EBM programme from a student in the year above. I
was instantly hooked, it offered the business development and skills support I
was looking for and I achieve a degree at the same time.
“Through the OceanJunkie
ethos of recycling, I want people to realise the impact that plastic and
GhostNets are having on our marine life and our oceans and to give people the
opportunity to make a difference and help the environment.
“My vision is to reinvest
profits into supporting beach clean ups across the country, ensuring groups have
the funds to purchase the tools they need, as well as donating money to support
the important work of the Marine Conservation Society.”
This month OceanJunkie is supporting 'Go Green Week' at Leicester
University to raise the profile of ocean pollution and the importance of marine
conservation. Nathan is also developing plans to support a number community
beach cleans in the North East by sponsoring clean up tools and bags.
The EBM programme focuses on independent, real world learning, with
students working to launch their own businesses and learn from their successes
and mistakes. The programme
is based on a Finnish model of education, called Team Academy, and Northumbria
was one of the first two universities to pioneer this approach in the UK.
Dr Alex Hope, Associate Professor of
Business Ethics at Northumbria University, said: “Northumbria University is
committed to promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
though our research, teaching and enterprise activities. We are signatory to the UN SDG Accord and have
embedded the goals into our University Strategy.
“I am delighted that Nathan’s business
will help us in this mission and highlight the real problem of plastics in the
marine environment and proud that our EBM programme is helping to creating
responsible and sustainable businesses.”
Northumbria has been
named the UK’s top ranked university for graduate business start-ups based on
turnover, for a second year running.
According to the latest report by the Higher Education Business and
Community Interaction Survey (HEBCIS), turnover from Northumbria graduate
businesses for 2016/17 reached £80.3 million – over £30 million more than the
second placed institution. The combined turnover for Northumbria graduate
businesses also grew by more than £10 million on the previous year.
Through its Student Graduate Enterprise service, Northumbria has supported the development of more than 200
graduate businesses, which currently employ over 1,000 and now have a combined
annual turnover in excess of £80 million.
