There are a bewildering array of clubs, societies and interest groups run by and for students in Oxford, contributing to the creative and lively culture of the city.

ClickUni is a young company that aims to provide an easy way to share information about student societies using an interactive website.

In the autumn of 2005, during the second year of their undergraduate studies, Ajmal Asver and Rowley Merricks had a conversation about the huge range of groups and activities run by students and the difficulty of finding out about them all.

Students' e-mail inboxes were full of spam from so many different groups that it was hard to find what was relevant and they thought there must be a more efficient way of organising this information.

After discussing the problem with a friend and fellow maths student David Langer, they began to investigate how to meet this need using a website, which the fourth member of the initial team, Satyajit Saste began to build.

They formed a company called Informatique' to explore the commercial possibilities of using advertising to fund the website.

The team enrolled on a Young Enterprise programme to see what the potential was for such a venture. Through the scheme they were put in touch with John Boyle, managing director of Oxford Computer Consultants.

Mr Boyle was to be a continuing guide to the growth of the business, contributing a regular amount of time each week to mentoring the team and offering them a small amount of office space in his company's premises on Hythe Bridge Street in Oxford.

But the team still had to keep up with their studies, and putting everything in place to turn the idea into reality involved a daunting amount of work. They ultimately decided not to proceed within the Young Enterprise framework.

Eventually Mr Saste and Mr Merricks withdrew from the project, leaving the others without the website development talent they needed to develop the product further.

Andy Young, a fresher computer science undergraduate with three years experience of building website content management systems was invited to join the team.

And Kirill Makharinsky, president of Oxford Entrepreneurs, the organisation dedicated to helping students set up and run their own businesses, was brought in and became marketing director in February 2006.

Mr Boyle also introduced the team to Gordon Buxton, managing director of Oxford Internet Consultants, who was able to help with some of the hardware the company needed.

With a new team and a sharpening focus on Oxford University's student societies, the company was renamed ClickUni'.

Mr Young became the company's technical director and developed the prototype website over the next six months.

Meanwhile, Mr Langer had discussed some of the group's ideas with his father, Adam, who had become very interested in the project. In March 2006, Adam invested £10,000 in ClickUni. This provided the team with the resources necessary to develop a pilot service and Adam has since been a valuable source of advice.

His son became the company's finance director, ensuring the investment was properly budgeted and accounted for.

The website was finally ready in October 2006. During the six days following the launch, more than 100 societies registered their interest in taking part.

With an initial target of registering 50 societies in the first six months, this was the first tangible sign that managing growth would be a challenge.

Over the last four months the business has continued to expand, with the number of societies describing their activities through ClickUni passing 200 in December.

As it has grown, the business plan has also evolved. ClickUni still hopes to be a reseller of student and university merchandise, but there has been unexpected strength in the market for advertising space for recruiters.

Key relationships with parts of the university, such as the careers service, the Cherwell newspaper and the Saïd Business School have made a big difference to the company's profile.

For example, ClickUni is the first external organisation that has been deemed credible enough to republish events from the Oxford University Careers Service, including details from around 500 of the biggest recruiters in the world.

From the start, balancing the demands of their studies with the pressure of business growth has been a challenge for the young entrepreneurs.

This year a couple of the team will focus on ClickUni full-time after completing their final degree examinations.

Mr Makharinsky was recently headhunted by a Silicon Valley start-up, Slide.com, leaving three student directors.

Mr Asver has now become marketing director and Mr Langer is the new managing director.

Four interns were taken on as relationship managers in November 2006 to provide assistance with administration and marketing, and there are plans to offer formal part-time positions this year.

Currently 228 groups are registered in the ClickUni directory, and the website has attracted more than 14,000 visitors since it was launched.

The company has negotiated deals with more than 20 of the top graduate recruiters in the world, generating revenues of £13,000 in its first four months of operation.

Looking further ahead, ClickUni already has its sights set on other UK universities and even international expansion.

n Contact: ClickUni, www.clickuni.com n This page is compiled by the Oxford Trust, www.oxtrust.org.uk