London, 30 September 2009

23-year old young Asian Rajeeb Dey has been named the O2 X 'Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009' for his internet company enternships.com - a site that connects start-ups and small businesses with students and graduates looking for entrepreneurial work placements. Dey, who started enternships.com while he was a student at Oxford University, says that the site provides ambitious and dynamic students and graduates with an opportunity to learn about business and enterprise through work placements in entrepreneurial and innovative environments, from start-ups to global venture funds around the world. Over 500 companies have already signed up to offer internship opportunities in cities as far and as wide as London to Mumbai.

Enternships was pioneered in association with Oxford Entrepreneurs, a student-run society at the University which encourages and supports student entrepreneurship and is one of the largest in Europe. Dey was the longest serving President of Oxford Entrepreneurs and graduated in June 2008 with First Class Honours in Economics & Management from Jesus College, Oxford. He is heavily involved in encouraging entrepreneurship in the UK with a background in social enterprise and education, having founded the English Secondary Students Association (ESSA) at the age of 17.

Dey is a Trustee of UnLtd - the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, a Trustee of the Phoenix Education Trust, a Next Generation Network Advisory Board member for the UK-India Business Council and Commissioner on the Carnegie UK Trust’s Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society. He has received numerous accolades for his work, including the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Award, YouthActionNet Global Fellowship, Waldzell Institute’s Architect of the Future Award, Bank of England Windsor Fellowship and Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Dey was recently selected to join the exclusive Courvoisier The Future 500, an exclusive and unique members network for rising stars across the UK.

On winning the O2 X Award, Dey said "The venture is particularly timely given the graduate jobs crisis and economic downturn leading to thousands of graduates who will struggle to find work upon graduation this summer. The vision is that in years to come an “enternship” in a start-up / small business will have the same kudos of ‘interning’ in a large corporation."

Video courtesy of O2 X Awards.

About the O2 X Awards

The O2 X Awards is an annual national small business competition set up to recognise emerging young talent from within the small business community. The announcement of the winners is the culmination of a six month nationwide search, which has seen the awards programme receive hundreds of entries from small businesses across the country and over 10,000 members of the public voting online for their favourite business.

Simon Devonshire, Head of O2 SME Marketing, comments: "The economic challenges of recent months appear to have done little to stifle the entrepreneurial spirit of the UKs small business community. The calibre and number of entries we received bears witness to the resilient and determined attitude from entrepreneurs up and down the country and the breadth and variety of talent was truly exciting."

Each winner will receive £5,000 to invest in their business as well as business mentoring from the accomplished entrepreneurs, Nicky Kinnaird, Shaf Rasul and Michelle Dewberry.

Click here to read more about Rajeeb Dey.