Young entrepreneurs to benefit as Telecoms company Lebara donates £30,000 to Kingston University

Posted Thursday 3 July 2014

Ratheesan Yoganathan graduated from Kingston University in 1999. Young entrepreneurs at Kingston University are to benefit from funding from a global telecommunications company. The Lebara Group will provide £30,000 over the next three years to enable some of the University's most promising entrepreneurs to spread their wings by pitching for bigger investment opportunities.

Ratheesan Yoganathan, a Kingston University graduate and one of Lebara's three founding members said "Investing in young people and their future is hugely important to me, we need to support entrepreneurs, as it is only through them that the economy can continue to recover and grow into the future."

"We have a responsibility to nurture and help young people as they begin their working life and encourage them to realise their full potential in whatever they dream and aspire to do. I am honoured to be able to help give back to the talented entrepreneurs and students at Kingston University."

Kingston University and Lebara have already been working together to nurture entrepreneurship and enterprise in the UK. During the past three years, the Lebara Seed Fund has provided small grants to more than 50 talented Kingston entrepreneurs, enabling web and app developers to achieve their MVP (minimum viable product), filmmakers and freelancers to buy vital tools and equipment, product designers and inventors to work up prototypes, and service developers to run small-scale trials.

Lebara's latest donation is a great vote of confidence in Kingston University and Martha Mador, associate professor Enterprise, said she was delighted the company would be refunding the University's entrepreneurship programme. "This will help even more students start their own businesses. We have a great synergy with Lebara, as an enterprising company and an enterprising university," she said.