Student pitches for entrepreneurship award

A POSTGRADUATE student at Warrington has made it through to the semi-finals of this years Santander Entrepreneurship Awards.
Martin Beddis, aged 46, studies sport coaching and development at the Warrington Campus of the University of Chester.
He is the brains behind SprayShield UK Ltd., a road safety company, and had the innovative idea to create a shield system for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) to reduce water spray being forced into the path of other road users during wet weather.
Martin said: “For those of us who drive, we have all had experiences of driving behind an HGV in wet weather – keeping your distance, before putting your wipers on high speed, before trying to get past as quickly and safely as possible. In wet conditions, spray can be an accident waiting to happen. The spray generated by HGVs is particularly problematic. Reducing visibility means increased risk for all road users. Our product looks to address this problem.
“Sprayshield is a retro fit system to all truck trailers and flatbed trailers. A rail is installed on both sides of the trailer which houses a spray curtain. This unique system is designed to deflect rain water through a complex system of veins which funnels the water down to the road rather than outwards in a spray form into the path of oncoming traffic.”
The Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards launched in 2011. Since then, it has grown to be one of the UK’s largest student and graduate pitching competition. Santander reward entrepreneurs by offering cash prizes, mentoring and start-up support, and have so far given away more than £420,000 to start-ups and small businesses.
The university’s Kirsty Badrock said: “We are incredibly proud of Martin’s achievement. Martin is a very inspirational individual who has shown tremendous entrepreneurial spirit, enthusiasm, resilience and commitment to develop his business over the course of the year. We will be cheering Martin on at the semi-finals in York, and we wish him all the best in his efforts to get to the final.”
The semi-finals are next Wednesday (June 26) and Martin will be pitching his business idea alongside 20 of the best businesses from universities across the region. The national final will be in October.