This year’s annual ‘BE… Unplugged!!’ panel at the Stratford campus of the University of East London (UEL) was branded as #MakeItHappen.
The idea of these panels is to gather successful business people together so that they can inspire any budding entrepreneurs in the audience. This year’s panellists were the award-winning editor of magazines such as Cosmopolitan and UK Elle Farrah Storr; former UEL student and founder of the successful Laaghas waffle sandwich shop Evans Mensah; award-winning businesswoman Lorraine Wright; and Tim Campbell MBE who was the first winner of the BBC’s Apprentice before setting up the highly successful Bright Ideas Trust enterprise charity.
A lively Q&A session included questions such as “How did you get to where you are now?” and “What further steps do I have to take to achieve my goals?” All the panellists agreed with one thing, that courage and determination were what counted.
Didi, who studies social science at UEL, agreed. “I have autism,” he said. “People think I’m not capable of doing anything great because of my disability, but I don’t care what they say, I know I can do it”.
Sarah echoed his sentiments: “I may be dyslexic, but I worked hard and my hard work paid off. Now I’m here studying to get a degree.”
Both comments fed one of the main messages of the event, which was: don’t let people identify you as helpless, because you are not.