beepurple is supporting me to build my app

Shuvechchha Ghimire, an Electronic and Computer Engineering BEng(Hons) student, is being supported by the university’s entrepreneurial service, beepurple, to build her app. Here she talks about the experience and about her time at the University of Brighton.

I’m being supported to develop my app…
I was struggling with the initial ideation phase of the app I want to build. beepurple has helped me verify the problem and identify the next steps, attend relevant workshops and find mentors. They also suggested I enter the Santander Ideas Competition, which I won! The prize money will be essential in financing my team, trademarking the idea and understanding the evolving market for my app.

The app aims to help reduce the stress of clearing…
I myself found the clearing process stressful. I then worked in clearing last year and realised just how much of it could be automated. Like a lot of my generation, I don’t like speaking on the phone and would rather have the convenience of applying through app. That’s where the idea came from.

I want to build something that will change people’s lives…
I’ve always been interested in electronics and in a career in software, but I think I may not have persevered with the app if it hadn’t been for beepurple. Now I am committed to developing this product that will hopefully change people’s lives. It’s still a way ahead and I want to do my Masters in Electronics and Computer Engineering next year. But I definitely want to channel my energies into the app rather than going into a standard job.

My course has been really helpful too…
The Product Design module has helped me to think about identifying what customers want and think about things like trademarks and intellectual property. My course is focused more on hardware than software, but I’m getting inspiration from everywhere and my professors have been really helpful.

I’m from Nepal where engineering is more theory-based. Coming here and doing hands-on work has been really helpful and advantageous in terms of building my practical engineering skills. Knowing how something works and making it work are absolutely different things.

And in Project Management we’ve done a lot of projects that have taught me a lot about teamwork, project management and communication, organisation, everything like that. That aspect has been helpful too as well as  developing more technical skills.

I’d like to work on the app with my friends from the course…
There are around 30 of us on the course. We all know each other and support each other’s work. There’s a close community of nine of us on the course who sit together and work on electronics. I’d like to end up working on the app with the friends I’ve made on the course. we’ve worked on a lot of projects together by now so I know the team dynamics and we work well together.

University has helped me to grow and get clear on my interests…
I’m so much more organised and focused than I was three years ago. I know what I’m doing and I know what I’m interested in, which includes working in artificial intelligence. My communication and English have improved, I’ve become more independent, and I’ve made long-term friends. The experience has also changed my perspective. Being in Brighton, compared to Nepal which is a conservative society, I’ve become more open-minded as well.