Alumni entrepreneurs join in with graduation celebrations on campus
During our winter congregations, we were thrilled to welcome three recent graduates to our START UP Pop-Up Shop so they could promote their business ventures and provide gifts to purchase for the Class of 2025.
17 December 2025
Championing alumni businesses during congregations
At the start of December, we welcomed around 3,000 students and their loved ones to campus to celebrate their graduation from Newcastle University – and to officially welcome them to our alumni community!
On hand to help with the celebrations were fellow recent alumni and budding entrepreneurs, Elle, Bex and Ben, who took over our START UP Pop-Up Shop to provide the perfect mementos for our graduates to remember their time at Newcastle.
Located in the newly refurbished King's Gate Level 1, these pop-ups offer a fantastic opportunity for people on campus to engage with emerging businesses from our student and alumni community.
Read on to meet our three alumni entrepreneurs and discover how you can support their growing businesses.
Elle Reid (BA Hons Contemporary and Popular Music, 2023)
Music graduate Elle is the founder of Doodelle, a digital art venture capturing local landscapes in her signature style. East Yorkshireborn Ellie moved to Newcastle for university and fell in love with what the city had to offer. Her artwork champions and shows off the North in a new light, with digitally hand-drawn landscapes of iconic landmarks, including Jesmond Dene and our very own Arches on campus!
Alongside growing this business, Elle is a drummer and percussionist with The Citrus Band with fellow Newcastle University graduates Eleanor Adams, James Davies and Liam Oliver.
Ben Hoskins (BSc Hons Chemistry, 2025)
Having only graduated from Newcastle himself this summer, Ben returned to campus this December with his photography business Photogenix, offering prints to help celebrating students relive some of their best memories of their university days. Prints included Tynemouth beach, campus, and perfect for the run up to the festive period – a 12 Pubs of Christmas calendar showcasing the Toon’s best drinking holes!
Supporting the next generation of alumni entrepreneurs
The START UP Pop-Up Shop is just one of the many ways we support entrepreneurial talent at Newcastle University.
We work with any student or recent graduate who wants to be self-employed, full or part-time. If you want to start or grow a business, freelance career or social enterprise, we can help.
Whether you’re just curious, considering it or already doing it, we'll support you and your goals at every stage of your start-up journey, from pre-idea to launch and beyond.
If you are a recent graduate with a business idea, get in touch! You never know where that first conversation might lead.