AWARD WINNERS
Kirill Makharinsky - 2006 Winner
Age: 20
University: University of Oxford
Degree: Mathematics
"What really motivates me is the desire to give something back to society," says Kirill Makharinsky. "I genuinely believe that I have never wasted a moment of university life and have touched the lives of many in a positive way in the process."
It was Kirill's dedication to the enterprise agenda that really grabbed the attention of the judges. He was a founding member and is now president of the Oxford Entrepreneurs society. In just three years the society has grown to become the biggest network of its kind in the UK with more than 3,000 members and a speaker programme boasting the likes of Sir Alan Sugar and Dame Anita Roddick.
He has also set up an online student club and Enternships™, a social enterprise providing top internships for students, as well as advising start-up companies and the Government on enterprise policy. "My commitment to Oxford Entrepreneurs has brought many benefits both to me and to those around me," he says. "I want to make a difference to as many people as possible and by working as hard as I am I think that I have already started to do that."
In addition to this, Kirill has represented the university in tennis, water polo and skiing, and has played the first ever solo piano concert in the Oxford Union, raising money for a foundation for disabled Russian orphans.
Kirill plans to use some of the £10,000 prize money to continue funding and expanding his businesses. "I will apply the valuable experience I have accumulated over the last three years to continue pushing and challenging myself in the future," he says.
He believes university life is a unique opportunity to meet like-minded people and try as many things as possible. "You only live once so you should take all the opportunities on offer to you. Don’t be fazed by setbacks."