Artur Oganov,
Ogan&Mour
Artur is a second year Accounting, Business, Finance and Management student. I sat down with the stocky Russian in his beautifully airy house over a drink and we spoke over a variety of topics ranging from the value of internships and making the most of contacts, to the state of the Cypriot economy.
Exuding an air of total calmness and professionalism, mirrored in the sleek design of his web site; all crucial in filling any potential business with confidence.
He set up Ogan&Mour roughly a year ago at the end of his first year at York with a friend. While a broad business idea, it’s one that has filled an area of the market where demand will never dry up.
Ogan&Mour deal with branding for various companies, particularly start-ups. Their website describes it as ‘where technology meets innovation.’
Essentially Artur has entered the business of cutting-edge and competitive branding. Names, logos, websites, promoting, social media – you name it and Ogan&Mour deal with it. Artur recently rebranded the International Student Association’s website and was heavily involved in also designing and promoting the York Finance Conference held earlier this year.
Obviously Artur has been incredibly successful, yet Ogan&Mour isn’t even a one off. Even from his mid to late teenage years he was organizing and promoting parties back home in Cyprus. “It’s important to use others’ opinions and their judgment. Always listen even if it isn’t agreeable first time.”
I questioned Artur on how he was able to launch such a grand venture from his Goodricke room last summer. A lot of ‘entrepreneurial spirit was needed he quipped. “I wanted the idea of branding to be associated with my name.” In fact, the business is now expanding far more than was initially expected, adding realism to his initial dreams.
Some extremely large deals are in the pipeline or have recently been completed including the largest property company in Cyprus.
Making time in a typical university day has started to become a stretch though. He claims many sleepless nights are involved in an attempt to efficiently juggle his various commitments.
It was therefore inevitable that extra help would have to be taken onboard. Three agents are now employed for Ogan&Mour, stationed in Hong Kong, Cyprus and Moscow. He hopes to expand this even further with permanent office space across Europe, potentially moving into every country.
Clearly the talented young business man hasn’t bitten off more than he could chew and left with some telling words of advice. “You mustn’t waste opportunity,” he claimed. “God sends people equal opportunities, it’s just how you make use of those openings.”
Tom Williams,
Recyclabook
You won’t see much of Tom Williams around campus any more as he has left the university to run and also expand his young business, Recyclabook.
The now-former second year Economics student has been running Recyclabook since the start of his fresher’s year, but in January it all got too much trying to balance a degree and a business, spiralling out of control in terms of size and time demand.
The simple idea is to become the easiest possible way for students to sell their old textbooks, claiming back as much of their spent money as possible. He now takes over a million titles by scanning them in and then giving the student a cheque there and then at one of various events they host. The books are then sold on, usually to universities in developing countries who often work on the old syllabuses.
With textbook prices soaring past the three figure mark, the idea is a very sensible one. It is also a simple one at heart, but there are large plans afoot to expand in all directions. Now based in Cardiff, living with an old friend at university there with whom he shares the venture, Recyclabook currently caters for twelve different universities in the nearby area, including Bristol, Bath and Southampton.
However, by Christmas, Tom hopes this could be at least into the fifties, expanding to cover the whole country. He would also like to move beyond books, taking on board anything from electronics to clothing and maybe, just maybe, one day expand into Europe or even world-wide.
Tom clearly has quite a bit of the entrepreneurial spirit about him, having done various “little things” since the age of eleven involving small candle companies to childcare agencies. In this vein he wants to keep Recyclabook going beyond the end of his degree. It’s not about the money for him, apparently, but the generation of “crazy ideas” that keep him going. He just enjoys the lack of structure and making and maintaining his own targets.
Recyclabook poses a different challenge everyday, and Tom has learned a vast amount since it all started.
He now employs four full time staff. All of them are older than him, which he notes provides “an interesting dynamic.” He’s had to deal with tax and learn how to properly strike up relationships in the business world. Adapting properly was of critical importance he emphasised.
If Tom had to offer any advice to want-to-be entrepreneurs in York, it would be to make use of the “awesome” careers department. They were “extremely helpful with things like grants, office space and networking,” Tom said appreciatively.
Overall, Tom Williams has had a whirlwind last 18 months. It will be interesting to see at what stage Recyclabook is at when he returns to York in just over six months’ time. Watch this space…
Jordan Harris & Alexander Caspari,
Encounter Fine Art
Jordan and Alex go back well before York, having come from the same London school to the same university to study the same degree, they now live together and have gone one step further in starting up a business together.
As History of Art students, their innate love of art was always likely to permeate into their professional careers and now that they have established Encounter Fine Art, this looks more and more likely.
Unlike Tom and Artur’s ideas, Encounter Fine Art is yet to substantially embed itself as an up and running business, but rather large plans are afoot to potentially turn this gem of an idea into a fantastic reality.
The idea behind the business is a complex, but almost unique one, which is what makes the potential buttressing Jordan and Alex’s creation so great.
The official line is that Encounter Fine Art is “an innovative cultural network which facilitates accessibility, entrepreneurship and creativity within the visual arts.” While that may seem complicated, at a basic level the brand wants to aid the accessibility to contemporary art by becoming a mediator between emerging contemporary artists and their market: an online auction platform dealing with both rental and sale of art.
Jordan and Alex recognise that the most dynamic areas of the art business world are at the low and high ends. They intend, therefore, to fill the market gap in facilitating the low end. For instance, many talented artists leave art-college with a diverse portfolio of work, but without the business acumen necessary to promote themselves.
So while a solid idea in the making, what are the next steps? Jordan and Alex tell me they will be working hard this summer to sign contracts with artists and future clients, as well as developing their web site and brand so they are ready for the market.
Attending every London art college degree show will only be a minute part of this big push.
If the summer is a success, applying for significant funding will be the next stage at the start of the next academic year. The business has also been recently short-listed for Shell LiveWire Grand Ideas Award. If all goes to plan, there should be a fully functioning business to walk into after the end of their degrees.
Again, this is another exciting idea from York students that seems set for interesting, if not great times.
It will be intiguing to follow the progression of all of these budding entrepreneurs over the next year, as they embark upon a career which will hopefully see their businesses thrive.