City of Portsmouth College IT students win awards building app for local business

a group of people holding up certificates in a room

We’re thrilled to celebrate the incredible innovation and collaboration on our Portsmouth Business Support Service Programme, delivered in partnership with Portsmouth City Council.

Last week, we had the pleasure of celebrating the incredible students of City of Portsmouth College at their Highbury campus. These talented IT students provided invaluable support to local entrepreneur Luca Frederick by building an app for his business, LocalLinked. This collaboration perfectly showcases the transformative power of the Portsmouth Business Support Service (PBSS).

Through the Shaping Portsmouth Mentorship Scheme, Luca was connected with two of our partners: Brian Harpur of GRP Solutions, who provided invaluable mentorship, and the brilliant students of City of Portsmouth College, who tackled the challenge of developing his app.

In a fantastic work experience arrangement, the students were split into teams and tasked with presenting their app ideas in May this year.

The quality of their work was so outstanding that choosing just one winner proved impossible! As a result, we celebrated two winning teams and awarded certificates of recognition to all participants.

Last Thursday, 11th July, we were honoured to present certificates and prize money to the winning teams, along with a big thank you to everyone who supported Luca on this journey: The amazing students, the College and lecturers, GRP Solutions, Spark Community Space, and everyone else involved. Your contributions made this a huge success story!

Brian Harpur said “This is a great success story. It shows what can be achieved when business, education and non profits work together. The proactive cooperation between Shaping Portsmouth, the students and staff of COPC and Spark Community Space has enabled Luca to kick off a new business venture. At the same time it gave students at COPC a real life opportunity to pitch their skills.”

Luca Frederick said “At the beginning of this partnership I wasn’t sure how it would all work, but I am completely amazed as what has been achieved from everyone involved!

“I can’t thank the students enough but also the team at the college for helping along the way. Additionally without Shaping Portsmouth none of this would have been possible. Lastly thank you to all the others involved in this journey.”

COPC Lecturer Will McDowell said “It was fantastic to welcome members of Shaping Portsmouth to COPC to see for themselves the facilities we offer and to meet the next generation of IT professionals. This really was the icing on the cake for us.”

“Our students loved being involved with this project, which was an amazing opportunity for them. Seeing everything we’ve taught them over the past two years being used to such great effect in group projects like this is incredible. We’re so proud of everything they’ve achieved so far and can’t wait to see how they continue to flourish in their future careers.”

Dave Humphries, CEO of Shaping Portsmouth, adds “This story is a testament to the power of collaboration and community support in fostering local entrepreneurship and innovation. It’s exactly what the Portsmouth Business Support Service is all about.”

Is your Portsmouth business seeking support? Check out our Portsmouth Business Support Service here!