At the start of the summer Mint announced the Don’t Be A Banker Scholarship. Our aim was to create an opportunity for aspiring web entrepreneurs to avoid the lure of corporate grad schemes and channel their energy into launching their own business.

We were looking for bright sparks with interesting ideas who could benefit from Mint’s support. We were delighted with the response. Of 46 applications, we shortlisted five:

• Mark Langtry
• Zac Moody and Chris Strand
• Michael Langguth and Oyvind Henriksen
• Harry Reid
• James Shilcock

But there can only be one winning team. Zac Moody and Chris Strand stood out. Their business, Nimble Servers, plans to rent game servers by the hour (currently you have to rent them by the month). Virtualisation is a growing area and Nimble Servers finds a fresh angle.

As Computer Science graduates with a passion for gaming they seemed capable of building and then launching their business, given a little time and a financial kick-start. (Zac and Chris are both former semi-pro gamers, so they know their target market well.) Plus, they are nice guys.

Best of all, Chris was on the verge of joining a big consultancy firm, so we hit this criteria from our initial ad: ‘If you are considering a career in consulting or advertising for any large company, we are just as keen to save you from yourself.’

Congratulations, Zac and Chris!

More: Double success for new graduate’s gaming business.