on_way_to_fame
New Member
Hi,
Although my situation refers to UK and not USA, I still thought I might get a few ideas here, about this complicated business situation I am in.
I recently won a business ideas competition at my university, where I was the youngest to apply (First year business admin student), most others being MBA and MSC students.
Refer: http://www.uce.ac.uk/web2/newsline/pages/news248.html
Since then I have also hosted a business game show for MBA and MSC students, and written quite a few business articles as well. I have always been interested in setting up my own business, and have engaged in a lot of small home based businesses earlier, which have been quite profitable, but I really want to make the most of this big break. I have had enormous support from my university, and some of the senior business people at my university are very “Pro” my idea, and have given me all possible help. But the problem I have run into is, that there are a lot of hurdles, which are hampering the growth of the idea, the biggest one being that I am an International Student at my university.
Because I am on a student visa, I am not allowed to engage in any business activity, or even take full employment. Hence, I am not able to legally register the company, something that my university people suggest, in order to be able to give me some finances for research, and even for other purposes. It is also important so that I can claim back whatever I am going to spend now. Now the only possible solution I can think of is taking other people (British Nationals) onto this project (so far I have been working on this alone), and registering the company on their name. But what concerns me here is the ownership issue, as I have put in so much effort here I don’t want to end up with nothing at all at a later stage. But I am in favour of taking in some more people and working as a team, so that the responsibility and workload can be divided, as it’s been too much so far. So what I want to know is:
1. Are there any workarounds, without taking in any partners?
2. If I do take in partners (Which I want to) and register the company in their name (Do I have to?), how can I be on the safe side in terms of ownership?
Is there any possibility I register the company in a foreign country, and then appoint someone here to look after its operations, and hence officially I am not connected with the business activities of the company here? I am not too sure about this, but it was just a vague idea. At the moment, the best advice on these issues can possibly be given by a lawyer, which my budget doesn’t allow me to afford. (If there are any lawyers here, I am looking for a mentor
LOL). If I do approach a lawyer for this, I would also like to have some kind of an estimate, as to what kind of costs am I looking at?
About the business itself, although I cannot give much detail, it’s about a new medium of advertising, which has the capability to spark off a new trend. It is meant to cater to businesses targeting the youth marketing, and reaching youth has been one of the major targets and hurdles for advertisers as some of the older means of advertising are losing relevance, and hence things like street marketing are actually coming into focus.
Another thing I would like to highlight is that the business would be based in west midlands (Birmingham to begin with), and as west midland’s performance in the media business hasn’t been as good as compared to places like London and Manchester, I believe there is good scope. I have been looking at some organisations supporting high growth media businesses in UK, and options like the Custard Factory, but I haven’t contacted anyone yet.
Some suggestions on how I can possibly raise some more money for this project would also be welcome.
Hope to get some new ideas here.
Thanks
Ash
Although my situation refers to UK and not USA, I still thought I might get a few ideas here, about this complicated business situation I am in.
I recently won a business ideas competition at my university, where I was the youngest to apply (First year business admin student), most others being MBA and MSC students.
Refer: http://www.uce.ac.uk/web2/newsline/pages/news248.html
Since then I have also hosted a business game show for MBA and MSC students, and written quite a few business articles as well. I have always been interested in setting up my own business, and have engaged in a lot of small home based businesses earlier, which have been quite profitable, but I really want to make the most of this big break. I have had enormous support from my university, and some of the senior business people at my university are very “Pro” my idea, and have given me all possible help. But the problem I have run into is, that there are a lot of hurdles, which are hampering the growth of the idea, the biggest one being that I am an International Student at my university.
Because I am on a student visa, I am not allowed to engage in any business activity, or even take full employment. Hence, I am not able to legally register the company, something that my university people suggest, in order to be able to give me some finances for research, and even for other purposes. It is also important so that I can claim back whatever I am going to spend now. Now the only possible solution I can think of is taking other people (British Nationals) onto this project (so far I have been working on this alone), and registering the company on their name. But what concerns me here is the ownership issue, as I have put in so much effort here I don’t want to end up with nothing at all at a later stage. But I am in favour of taking in some more people and working as a team, so that the responsibility and workload can be divided, as it’s been too much so far. So what I want to know is:
1. Are there any workarounds, without taking in any partners?
2. If I do take in partners (Which I want to) and register the company in their name (Do I have to?), how can I be on the safe side in terms of ownership?
Is there any possibility I register the company in a foreign country, and then appoint someone here to look after its operations, and hence officially I am not connected with the business activities of the company here? I am not too sure about this, but it was just a vague idea. At the moment, the best advice on these issues can possibly be given by a lawyer, which my budget doesn’t allow me to afford. (If there are any lawyers here, I am looking for a mentor
LOL). If I do approach a lawyer for this, I would also like to have some kind of an estimate, as to what kind of costs am I looking at?About the business itself, although I cannot give much detail, it’s about a new medium of advertising, which has the capability to spark off a new trend. It is meant to cater to businesses targeting the youth marketing, and reaching youth has been one of the major targets and hurdles for advertisers as some of the older means of advertising are losing relevance, and hence things like street marketing are actually coming into focus.
Another thing I would like to highlight is that the business would be based in west midlands (Birmingham to begin with), and as west midland’s performance in the media business hasn’t been as good as compared to places like London and Manchester, I believe there is good scope. I have been looking at some organisations supporting high growth media businesses in UK, and options like the Custard Factory, but I haven’t contacted anyone yet.
Some suggestions on how I can possibly raise some more money for this project would also be welcome.
Hope to get some new ideas here.
Thanks
Ash
