James Doherty
James Doherty graduated with a BA (Hons) in Philosophy in 2017 and has been based at the Ingenuity Lab ever since, developing his student peer mentoring app TyFy.co, and going on to found Indigo Mentoring.
Tyfy provides a digital solution for pastoral issues and academic anxiety, and already counts a number of British universities as its clients.The inspiration for the app came through James’s own experience with peer mentoring at university.
After the success of Tyfy, James founded Indigo Mentoring, with the intention of expanding their mentoring outside the higher education sector. TyFy now sits under the Ingido Mentoring umbrella with LadderTech, which aims to connect entrepreneurs with experienced business mentors.
LadderTech partnered with the Ingenuity Programme in 2021, helping them to move their mentoring services online during the pandemic.
James credits the Ingenuity Lab for helping him to nurture his idea into a fully-fledged business – from practical services provided by the Lab and Nottingham University Business School, to knowledge sharing and technical support from fellow members.
Coming from a politics background rather than a business studies one, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing! The surgeries and seminars providing free advice from people who have been there and done that – are great, and having a base at the Ingenuity Centre gives the business a level of legitimacy that we wouldn’t otherwise have got. But the main benefit isn’t the physical space as much as it is the people around you that really makes the difference.
