Two enterprising students have received royal recognition for their growing business.
Jonathan Langley and Peter Waugh, who are blazing a trail with their tech-based company Torchbearer interactive, were presented with Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Awards by Prince Andrew at the University of Huddersfield .
Theirs was one of 17 businesses to receive the awards this year under the scheme which recognises students who have shown “remarkable entrepreneurship” while at university. The awards, launched in 2013, are given to students or recent graduates selected by universities across the North of England.
During his day in the town, Prince Andrew, who is chancellor of the University of Huddersfield, also attended a graduation ceremony for music technology and drama students.
Speaking about their award success, Jonathan said: “It just came out of the blue. We had no idea we were up for it. It’s fantastic.”
Jonathan, 22, who hails from Wakefield but now lives at Almondbury, and Peter, 26, originally from Herefordshire and now living at Lindley, set up Torchbearer in 2014 during their placement year on the computer games programming course at Huddersfield University.
Jonathan said: “When I came to the university I wanted to start a business and I ended up meeting Pete who had the same ambition.”
They started out with the aim of making games for mobiles and PCs. They secured £15,000 of funding and spent most of that year producing a prototype game. They also took on business-to-business (B2B) contract work to generate extra money – working on software development, mobile apps and website design to generate extra funds.
While the company has produced games such as Cloud Cover, Magnet Roads and blockup, B2B is now the main driver for the firm – which has secured two investors, received another £20,000 of funding and now has a five-strong team with two more jobs in the pipeline.
Torchbearer started out in the Duke of York Entrepreneurship Centre at the university’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre at Firth Street but has now moved to offices at the Media Centre in Huddersfield.
The award comes just two weeks before Jonathan and Peter attend their own graduation ceremony.
Other entrepreneur award recipients included student-led businesses based at universities in Bradford, Leeds, Hull, Lancaster and Durham.
The recipients were recognised for their initiative, innovation and entrepreneurial flair in developing their new businesses. The duke met representatives from each of the businesses before presenting the awards.
