Current
Media & Journalism student, James McKenzie, and his partner, Northumbria
Researcher, Ben Mellor launched NCL Dates around a year ago with the help of
the Student & Graduate Enterprise
Team. They specialise in hosting Speed Dating events
for all, and seasonally run a Blind Dating matchmaking service as well as other
dating and relationship orientated events. Their events are inclusive to any
gender, age (18+) or sexual orientation, with the events being partnered with,
and held, in some of Newcastle’s most popular venues.
At the Speed Dating events, the friendly NCL Dates team welcome daters and explain how it works. At heterosexual events, women
stay seated and men travel around the circuit of tables. Both genders rate the
quality of the connection on the date and tick the other person if they’d like
to ‘match’. If both parties have ticked each other, there’s a match and there is an exchange of the daters’ preferred contact details with their matches the following
day.
The main priority of the team is to
ensure that everyone has a great time in a fun, safe, environment. The small but
dedicated team are always visible and walking around during the dates to ensure
everyone is safe and comfortable. There are safety measures in place and all
venues are either a private function room or the entire venue to ensure
privacy. NCL Dates foster an environment which is rare these days, a bar full of
people you know are all single and looking for a relationship.
Speaking of setting up the business Ben commented:
"While I was at uni, I ran a successful student
meme page where I’d engage students with activities and content. Following a
trial of setting up fellow students through Blind Dating and applying my
postgraduate degree knowledge in Psychology, I decided to set up a dating
service that wasn't just for students. I was inspired to pursue this avenue due
to there being a big demand for in-person events following the COVID lockdowns
and through my interest in relationships, attraction and compatibility, an area
I am a published academic author in. It was important to me from the moment I
started the company that we were inclusive and open to all, that’s why we offer
different events for people of all ages and sexual orientations. My parents
also met on a Blind Date in 1996 so I suppose there is that inspiration too!
The Enterprise Team at Northumbria have been
integral to our development over the six months, they've provided us with
support from a series of field experts in marketing, sales, UX design etc. and
we genuinely feel as though we wouldn't have been able to grow our business so
quickly if it weren't for this ongoing advice and guidance. They've run a bunch
of sessions throughout the year which are a really great place to learn about
business development while meeting other student and graduate business owners,
and we really value those connections. We can drop in to the Incubator any time
for advice or just a quiet place to work, and it genuinely feels as though
everyone is there to help one another, which is ideal for us as we don't
currently operate out of an office. The Enterprise Team are also incredibly
quick at answering any questions we might have."
The growing success of the
company of the past year has allowed the team to launch expansions into new cities such as Leeds and Windsor/Egham on the outskirts of London, with the hopes of Ben and James being to
grow the company nationally to ensure they’re bringing their modern brand of
inclusive Speed Dating to all.
James commented:
"We've had a few success
stories, one occasion that stands out to us in particular was when a friend of
our's came to one of ourout speed dates events, he said he had a good time and
that there was a couple of people he'd be interested in talking to after the
event. After that he went quiet for a while and we didn't hear many more
updates on his love life. Then, at a party, he introduced us to his new
girlfriend and it was one of the girls from the event - they've been together
for a few months now and seem like such a great match and we're hoping they're
together for the long run so we can attend an NCL Dates wedding!
Our advice to anyone wanting to start a business
would be to get talking to as many people as you can and do your research, it's
easy to want to just get stuck in right away but there's plenty of know-how and
dare we say boring stuff that needs to be prepared first to give you the best
chances of success, and there are plenty of resources to help budding
entrepreneurs with the setup of their business - especially for Northumbria
students and graduates get in touch with the enterprise team, we honestly can't
recommend them enough!"
Find out more about NCL Dates here.
