Rules and Procedures

A. The Competition

The Competition is designed to encourage enterprise amongst undergraduate and graduate students in Downing College and alumni and to promote links between alumni and students with the objectives of transmitting business experience and knowledge and teaching business discipline.

Entrants will submit proposals for entrepreneurial ideas for assessment by an Advisory Board comprising alumni and College officers. The Board will shortlist a number of proposals to receive Business Plan Development Grants. It will then choose one or more winners to receive grants or loans up to a maximum value of £25,000 per team to implement the business plan.

The Advisory Board will receive regular reports and monitor the progress of the enterprise for a period of twelve months providing mentoring and guidance as necessary.

B. The Downing Enterprise Fund

The College has set up a restricted fund called ‘The Downing Enterprise Fund' to hold monies given by donors for the purposes of promoting entrepreneurial activities at Downing College. The Advisory Board will advise on the expenditure of funds. Both the capital and the interest may be spent. The Bursar will be the fund holder.

C. The Advisory Board

The Board will comprise all alumni and others who have donated at least £10,000 into the fund.
Members will serve for a period of three years but may choose to leave the Board at any time by agreement with the Chairman.
The Bursar and Senior Tutor will be full members of the Board without the requirement to make a donation and will take part in all decisions.
Meetings will be quorate if a simple majority of the members are present.
The decisions of the Board will be final and there will be no appeal.
The Director of Development will be in attendance and will initially keep records and minutes of Board meetings. The Development Office will provide administrative support for the Competition although the Board might wish to make additional arrangements in the future depending on the success of the Competition.
Board Members will elect the Chairman annually for a period of one-year, renewable.
The Chairman may invite others to join the Board at any time subject to the agreement of the Board and on payment of the minimum £10,000 donation.
Corporate donations may be paid into the fund and a representative of the organisation will become a full voting member subject to the agreement of the Board.
The Board may co-opt non-donor members in an advisory, non-voting capacity.
Membership of the Board will be reviewed at the end of each Competition period.
The Board will meet as many times as necessary to fulfil the objectives of the Competition and any other related objectives.
All members of the Board will sign a Confidentiality Agreement and will take reasonable steps to protect the data submitted by entrants.

D. Competition Entry Criteria

All current Downing students, including final year students, and alumni who graduated in the last 10 years will be eligible to enter.
Students and alumni may enter as individuals or as part of a team of up to five members.
Membership of teams will be open to students or alumni of other colleges within the University of Cambridge but teams must have some connection with Downing and the Board will favour teams with a Downing majority.
The Team Leader must be a current Downing student or Downing alumnus.
Downing Fellows and others outside of the College may act as advisors to entrants.
Existing businesses set up and run by Downing students and alumni may be entered into the Competition provided that all other entry criteria are satisfied. Enterprises based on events will be eligible for entry.
Individuals and teams may submit more than one entry per competition.
Individuals and teams may enter competitions in more than one year.
Winners will be eligible to enter in future years either as individuals or as teams.
All entrants will be required to behave ethically and honestly throughout the whole competition.
The Board may at its discretion disqualify any entrant and withdraw funding at any time.

E. Proposal Stage

The competition will open in the Michaelmas Term and entry details will be publicised within College and on the College, JCR, and MCR websites (subject to the consent of the JCR and MCR Committees). The competition will also be publicised to alumni.
Proposals must be word-processed and must not exceed a maximum of four sides of A4 in a reasonable sized font. Further details may be sought at the discretion of the Advisory Board.
The full names of all team members and their affiliations (e.g. Downing student, alumnus, student of another College etc) must be listed along with their subjects, years and the names of tutors and directors of studies and full contact details (home and College). A form will be provided for this purpose and must be attached to the proposal. Each team must designate a Team Leader.
Proposals must not place excessive demands on undergraduates during term-time. The College will monitor this carefully.
Each proposal must clearly state the business objectives to be achieved, the timeframe, the capital required (up to a maximum of £25,000), any legal and regulatory conditions which might apply and an initial profit forecast subject to further detail in the Business Plan should the entry be shortlisted.
Each proposal must be lawful and must comply with the College's Ethical Investment policy. The College currently does not have direct holdings in tobacco companies.
The deadline for submission of entries is 5.30pm 18^th December 2009.
Entries must be signed and dated by each team member and posted or emailed to the Development Director at Downing College by the deadline.
The Advisory Board will meet soon thereafter and decide on a shortlist. The shortlisted teams will each be awarded a Business Plan Development Grant up to a maximum of £500 subject to conditions set out in a letter of agreement to be signed by team members.

F. Business Plan stage

The Advisory Board will guide and advise each team on the production of a business plan and members of the Board may act as mentors to the shortlisted teams.
Team members may begin work on the business plan at any time after the shortlist has been announced. However, Downing undergraduates will be expected to give priority to their academic work during term-time and must not spend more than two hours per week on the project until after their exams have ended. The College will monitor this carefully.
The deadline for submission of business plans is 20th April 2010. The plan must be sent by email and hard copy to the Development Director at Downing College to be received by 5.30pm.

G. Judging and Selecting Winners

Each team will be invited to present its business plan to the Board in April or May on a date to be determined along with a detailed account of how the Business Development Grant was used. Any unspent portion of the grant must be returned to the College.
The Board will select one or more winning teams to receive grants or loans up to a maximum value of £25,000 per team subject to conditions set out in a letter of agreement to be signed by team members. The Advisory Board will determine the exact value of the grants or loans, the methods of payment and any conditions attached to their use.

H. General Grant and Loan Conditions

Each Downing undergraduate member of the winning team must obtain the written consent of his or her Tutor and Director of Studies to take part in the enterprise in order for the team to be eligible to receive the grant or loan. A form will be provided for this purpose. If necessary, revisions to team membership may be made at this stage and reported to the Board.
Normally, winning teams will not be required to repay a grant unless the grant is not used for the purposes for which it was intended or if, in the opinion of the Advisory Board, the use of the grant brings either the Advisory Board or the College into disrepute or might cause other harm to the College or the members of the Advisory Board.
A proportion of the grant or loan may be released as an advance if required on the basis of an estimate of reasonable expected expenditure. The remainder will normally be released on the presentation of official estimates, invoices or receipts from suppliers. Team members may claim legitimate expenses relating to the running of the business but the grant will not cover the payment of salaries.
If the grant is to be used, in whole or in part, to satisfy expenses (such as salaries and premises costs) which are not directly related to developing the entrepreneurial idea, the whole of the grant shall become a convertible loan. The terms of the loan (such as rate of interest and basis of conversion into shares of an entity formed to develop the idea) shall be negotiated between the winning team and the Advisory Board, who shall seek to negotiate a form of return to the College similar to that which might be agreed with external investors. If agreement cannot be reached on the terms of the loan the balance of the grant shall be repaid immediately and the winning team shall not claim any association, past or future, with Downing Enterprise.

I. Implementation Stage

Undergraduates can start work on implementing their business plans only after their exams have been completed.
The progress of teams will be monitored by Downing Enterprise normally for a period of 12 months from the date of the awarding of grants or longer if appropriate.
Winners may establish limited liability companies for their enterprises and the Board will advise in this respect.
Teams will be required to report regularly and to present accounts to the Board until it deems this to be no longer necessary. The Board will allocate one or more of its number as mentors to guide the enterprises for a limited period.
Teams will present regular reports and accounts to the Board for as long as the Board deems it necessary to monitor and evaluate the use of the grant.

J. Post-competition

In subsequent funding rounds individual members of the Board will have the option to invest in the winning enterprises independently of the College or to continue to advise and guide the enterprise in a private capacity subject to the agreement of the business owners and the other members of the Advisory Board.
The College asks the winners of the Competition:

i. to remember Downing College if and when they become successful in the future and to give consideration to making philanthropic donations to the College in support of its educational and charitable objectives;

ii. to take part in future enterprise competitions at Downing College as investors, judges and mentors as and when invited to do so.

The Advisory Board may at any time change, withdraw or add to any of the above conditions at its discretion.

November 2009