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Sussex student Richa Misra (right) received her award from Professor Bob Allison (left)

Sussex student Richa Misra has won £500 for a business idea she wrote on the back of a beer mat. 

Richa was presented with the first prize at an awards dinner at the Brighton Old Ship hotel on Wednesday night (10 March). Her idea was 'Walk de Talk', a personal navigation system for partially-sighted people including  spoken warnings about the objects they encounter whilst walking along  the street. 

Richa said: "I'm so pleased the judges could see the potential in the idea. I've carried out extensive market research and it's clear that there is a real gap in the market for a system like this. 

"It's great to be able to apply my knowledge and experience of software  engineering to developing this tool. The £500 and all the help and support that's included in the prize will really help me get the business to the next stage." 

Richa is the second winner of Enter-priZe, the University's annual business ideas competition. The competition is open to all  students and this year received almost 300 entries: from money-box footwear to cancer detection devices, to a micro-brewery on campus. Second prize went to Sama Bakr for 'Bike Train' and runners-up were Biz Bliss and Liam Hackett. 

Finalists presented their ideas at the awards dinner to the panel of judges comprising University faculty, Students' Union representatives and local entrepreneurs. 

Prizes were presented by Professor Bob Allison, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research). Guest speaker was Dee Blick, Founder of The Marketing Gym and author of the best-selling book Powerful marketing on a shoestring budget. 

The winner received:

• prize money of £500,
• a year's free membership to the Brighton Business Community Partnership,
• a ticket to Institute of Directors (IoD) annual conference at Royal Albert Hall,
• advice sessions with the business development team at the Sussex Innovation Centre. 

Second prize was £150 and the runners-up received £50 each. All four finalists received an 'enterprise kit' containing: Mr Site Takeaway Website CD ROM; Business Boffins - Start Your Business CD; Business link podcasts; signed copy of Powerful marketing on a shoestring budget and a glass trophy. 

The 2009 competition was won by students Edward Stevens and Maria Welby for RECIBO, a system to keep receipts from cash and card transactions on a secure online database.