A GROUP of Blackburn University Centre students have seen off competition from universities in the North West to reach the national finals of Young Enterprise.

Sophie Barnes, Amber Preece, Tiffany Lowe, Alex Ball, Mark Kearns and Catherine Jones are all students on the BA (Hons) Business with Management degree at Blackburn University Centre and co-founded EazYseat while completing their degrees.

With their business, the team of six finished in the top three places at the North West finals which were held at the University of Salford.

The EazYseat product is designed to make seating your child in their car seat 'a safe and hassle-free process'.

One of the business co-founders Amber Preece discovered an issue when trying to seat her niece in a car and after discussing with the rest of the group, who are all parents, they realised that there was a real problem that needed resolving and that there was a gap in the market.

With further market research, the group decided that their product had potential and they decided to enter the Young Enterprise competition with the help of their tutor Phillip Kenyon.

Co-founder Amber said: “We’re the first group from Blackburn University Centre to reach the finals.

"The judges loved our product and our branding and some of them were asking if they could buy the product already. They said it was a simple solution to a big problem.

"We’ve had lots of support from Phil, he has offered us guidance and answered our questions throughout the journey so we must say a big thanks to him.

"We’d love to take the business further 100% after the competition, the product could be used and adapted for use in other markets so we think there is a lot of potential for EazYseat."

Co-founder Sophie said: "It’s an amazing feeling. For a smaller university like ourselves to get through to the finals is a huge achievement.

"We were up against bigger universities with larger budgets and a lot of them had business mentors to help them through the process.

"It did feel like we were the underdogs so to reach the finals has been fantastic."

Programme leader for BA (Hons) Business with Management, Mr Kenyon said: "It’s a fantastic achievement for the team to reach the national finals of Young Enterprise.

"The team have excelled at taking their business from the concept stage all the way through to pitching their business to the panel of judges.

"The national finals are in May and I would like to wish the team the very best of luck."

Blackburn College Principal and Chief Executive Dr Fazal Dad said: “Congratulations to the team who have reached the finals of the Young Enterprise competition, becoming the first group of students to reach this stage from Blackburn University Centre.

"They have created an innovative product and used their business skills and knowledge to pitch a profitable business that impressed the judges."

Everyone at Blackburn University Centre wishes EazYseat the very best of luck for the national finals.