INSIGHTS / News

Second year history student Matt Morley has beaten off competition from more than 160 businesses to reach the final stage of the Born Global business competition and has been awarded 2nd place with his company, TickBox. The competition operated by Business West seeks out entrepreneurs of the South West to compete for expert international advice, business support and a cash prize to boost their business plan.

During local elections in 2013 Matt identified improvements that could be made to improve the voter experience and set about designing TickBox; a digital platform to present and compare candidate information. The site will be first used in the South West for the 2014 European Elections with plans to make TickBox available nationwide for the general elections in 2015.

Having entered the Born Global contest in October, TickBox was invited to present a pitch to a panel of experts alongside a number of other businesses. The team learned that they had reached the final round while attending an entrepreneur conference in London, celebrating in style at a drinks reception in the House of Commons before returning to the South West for a filming appointment with BBC Points West. The final announcement was made on Monday 9 December, declaring Linear Guidance Illumination the winner and TickBox a runner-up alongside Sealwise Ltd.

The Students’ Guild’s IGNITE team has supported Matt and TickBox since the early developmental stages. IGNITE’s partnership with SETsquared enabled Matt to attend the Entrepreneurship Summer School in Brussels this summer  where he met Nik Hass, now Chief Operations Officer. IGNITE has also facilitated key networking opportunities within the Cabinet Office as well as working with the University of Exeter’s Innovation Centre to provide pitch coaching in collaboration with Jonathan Neumann of CoLinked, marketing support, and one-to-one mentoring.

Proud of such an achievement when pitted against seasoned businesses in competition, Matt says: “IGNITE provided critical support at the point where an idea could be easily dismissed and ignored.  We wouldn’t be where we are now without the support of IGNITE and their networks.”

IGNITE Manager Louise Rose says: “We are absolutely thrilled to see TickBox in the finals of Born Global – it is very impressive.  It has been an absolute pleasure to be part of their early journey.  We are looking forward to seeing this young, dynamic business go from strength to strength and lead the way in bringing democracy into the 21st century.”