Nicola Thomson

I am Nicola Thomson a Business Studies student at Abertay University, Dundee. I have an active role within my university in a variety of ways.

I started the enterprise society with the university and I am currently developing this further by merging three business societies so there is a larger network of help and support.

I took part in the European Business Masters Cup where many teams at Abertay competed in a management simulation over two days. I was in the winning team and I will be competing in Stuttgart in January 2012 alongside nine universities from around Europe.

I have worked for the Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE) throughout this academic year which has been a fantastic opportunity to help my peers start their own business. It has provided me with a multitude of skills through the training provided and from within the role as an intern within my institution.

One of the best events which SIE was part of was the ‘Charity Challenge’ where two charity shops were in competition on a Sunday, a day the shops are not usually open, there were two teams and Abertay was given the ‘CHILDREN 1st’ shop in Dundee to fully stock, advertise and sell the most in what was named an ‘apprentice style challenge’. This was a highly successful event which raised over £550 for the charity. This developed many organisational skills and let all of the students get an insight of what it took to run a shop. This was a fantastic experience to understand business theory in practice.

Being an Intern for SIE has provided me with the foundation of skills to base a variety of jobs. I am in the process of finalising a job for a foreign client which involved researching and planning property for Students within Dundee. This has been a long process with many hurdles along the way. However it has been a great experience which has boosted my confidence in business planning.

I applied for a student consultancy post within the university and have since been made lead consultancy on the project with Maggie’s centre in Dundee. This consultancy group allows students to gain experience in business practice in developing tasks for firms.

Having been the SIE Intern I was approached to help a part time lecturer, who has a plethora of experience in industry with NCR, to help her start up her own business. This is an exciting experience that is proving me with a vast array of skills needed not only in business start-up but within any type of business.

Having known about the Saltire Foundation since High School I have been anticipating the day where I could apply and be part of this fantastic programme. I am going to the Wood Group in Houston, Texas. I am very excited about working there and gaining as much experience as possible.