Reflections on the 2023 E-Lab Residential Week
Written by Qinglan Du
I decided to participate in the E-Lab because I’ve always been passionate about entrepreneurship. Since primary school, I have sold rainbow loom bracelets or Taylor Swift merch, and always looked for different ways to start businesses. In secondary school, I took entrepreneurship more seriously and started ‘Mask Up’, selling sustainable and customisable fabric masks at various events. All the money I made went to local charities. I quickly discovered that children in particular loved coming to my booth to design masks. I managed to win first place at a Beijing-wide business competition, called Avenir, with this idea. This experience made me realise I wanted to explore entrepreneurship further and learn more of the ‘hard skills’ that might be necessary. Phrases like “market research” or “IP” were so foreign to me. I believed that the E-Lab was the perfect opportunity to learn about these fundamentals and to strengthen the foundation I had already built. And I was right!
During the week, each morning we heard a few pitches from students. Individuals and groups presented their ideas and everyone gave feedback or asked questions. I presented mine on the fourth day and my peers provided really helpful advice. They raised points that I never thought about and truly helped me to expand my idea. Each day we also heard presentations from Thomas (one of the great co-founders of the E-Lab). He focused on different entrepreneurial skill sets and we were able to practice these through practical tasks. In the afternoon, there were external speakers who covered a range of subjects. I particularly enjoyed the talk on intellectual property. As a law student, it was interesting to hear an area of law from the ‘entrepreneurship perspective’. It was eye-opening because it fused my passion for law with my passion for entrepreneurship and showed me a different side to the ‘legal world’ that I knew, in which the focus is hard and fast legal principles, case law, and statutes rather than opportunities for protection or aspects of disclosure. I was always able to ask the speakers questions and across these talks, I learned such an array of new things.
The experience gave me the opportunity to make many friends from other colleges, ranging from undergraduate students to PhDs. We all had very different ideas but were able to support each other. Even now, months after the Residential, I have stayed in contact with them. Recently, another participant told me she was about to put her business idea into practice and asked for my advice. The connections remain strong for me, even as term ticks on. We also had so many social opportunities, ranging from coffee breaks, to group activities, to formals. These friendships, and the opportunities to develop them, are very valuable to me and I think they make the E-Lab, as a whole, extremely enjoyable.
For the Residential, my business idea was a hair donation app. I used to have really long hair and I donated it in Beijing last winter break. However, the process was unnecessarily confusing and complicated and I wanted to develop an app that combines all hair donation platforms. Notably, it would also put the donor in touch with the receiver – helping to build a special connection which then supports the receiver (usually cancer patients who have lost their hair due to chemo) and also motivates the donor. I plan to implement this at home in Beijing over the summer (hopefully!). But at the moment, I am also thinking of other business ideas. I am continuously looking for gaps in the market in my daily life and thinking about how I can address them. The possibility to pursue entrepreneurship really is everywhere!
Overall, the E-Lab was a new experience for me. I have never had the chance to be in a room so full of passionate entrepreneurs, or been given a week’s time just to learn about “entrepreneurship”. I’m excited to continue to engage in and learn from this incredible network I’ve become a part of and I’m thankful to all involved in making it work!
Qinglan Du
Qinglan is a second-year law student at Christ’s College, Cambridge. She’s an international student from Beijing and has lived in London, Jerusalem, and Malta. She is a part of the Cambridge University Fencing Team, the International Students’ Campaign and serves as the Vice President for the Cambridge University Law Society. She has been a member of the E-Lab since 2023.