Two enterprising postgraduates, who have just completed their Masters in Business with Information Innovation at Ulster's Coleraine campus, have launched their own property management and maintenance company, specialising in 'student lets' in the Coleraine 'Triangle' area.

A combination of factors prompted Jeremy Baird from Dungannon and Alistair Smith from Belfast to set up ManageMint Ltd, which is housed in the Innovation Centre on the Coleraine campus.

Both did a degree in Business with Computing at Coleraine before enrolling on the Masters programme.

"Entrepreneurial skills are embedded in a wide range of courses at UU which encourages students to get into this mindset and challenge them to think about ways to get involved in business," says Jeremy who credits course director Derek Bond for helping them to first get and then stay on track with their business idea.

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The University's SPEED (Student Placement for Entrepreneurs in Education), Initiative which encourages students to set up their own business and InvestNI's Start a Business programme provided crucial seed funding for the new initiative. Lastly but by no means least, both Jeremy and Alistair had their share of good and bad landlords.

"We know from our own experiences what students want and feel we have the right balance of experience and practical 'know how' to make a success of the business."

Although it is still early days, Jeremy says that landlords generally have been very receptive to the idea of a specialist management and maintenance service for rented student accommodation.

"Maintaining property can be very time consuming and expensive so the idea of paying a reputable locally based company to look after the property for them is very appealing. The fact that we were students ourselves gives us 'insider' knowledge which may help resolve some of the social problems that can arise from student lets."

Initially ManageMint will be based in Coleraine but the company has ambitious plans to extend its specialist Property Management and Maintenance service to UU’s other campuses and further afield.

"While some companies offer a similar Property Management and Maintenance service, we will be the first company to focus exclusively on student lets."

Prospective or current students seeking private accommodation in the Triangle Area who would like to find out more about ManageMint, can visit www.ManageMint.co.uk, or contact Jeremy or Alaistair on 028 702 80076.

(JM)