Meet The Spark Award 2021 Winners!
The Spark Awards 2021 programme concluded with a live pitching event held over 2 days between 29-30 March
The virtual event saw 21 budding entrepreneurs from the Spark programme pitch their business ideas for the first time in hopes of getting their hands on £500 to test and develop their hopeful ventures. All 21 pitchers have spent the last 9 weeks partaking in our Spark Awards introduction to business programme.
Through a series of webinars run by James Lemon from The Growth Works, and weekly meetings and mentoring from Ross Jordan and Sunil Oberoi, as well as guest mentors, attendees gained the fundamental skills needed to transform their ideas into reality and take the first steps into their business journey.
Across the 2 nights, we saw 103 people from across the globe tune in to support our entrepreneurs, along with our four expert judges:
- Jude Perera, Brookes alumni, Former head of marketing at Enterprise Support and founder of Equalify marketing,
- Fiona Minnet, Brookes Alumna and founder of Boss Your Skills PR,
- Kyle Grant, Founder of OxWash
- Dan Sodergren, founder of Your Flock.
The judges granted 14 Spark Award prizes of £500 on the night to the following businesses:
Amanda Selormey, 1:100 Podcast
ArchiSkills is a social platform that allows students and graduates from underrepresented backgrounds to share and monetize the technical skills they learnt with their degree.
Charlie O’Callaghan, CharlieBee Jewellery
CharlieBee is a small business that hand makes funky, statement earrings, without the hefty price tag. With a strong emphasis on eco-friendly, responsible packaging.
Daniel Satch, Belvedere Apparel
Belvedere Apparel’s goal is to produce sportswear clothing in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
Eleanor Monk, Cutie Fruitie
Cutie Fruitie is a ceramics and illustration house sowing its seeds from a 'potting shed' studio, bringing quirky, handcrafted fruit inspired products to the modern gardener.
Jessica Gutaj, First Base
First Base is an all-natural paste which, when blended with water, makes zero-waste plant milk. Each flavour is packed with functional ingredients.
Marco Campera, Wildlife Friendly Coffee
Wildlife Friendly coffee a B2B start-up that links coffee farmers in Indonesia and the independent roasters in the UK.
Molly Brealey and Freddie Fielding, Empty Spaces
Empty Spaces will redevelop unused highstreet spaces into engaging 'theatrized' sporting venues offering diverse, inclusive and sustainable opportunities for everyone to enjoy sport.
Nila Matthews, Awakening Flow
Awakening Flow is science, meets spirituality, to help women transition to liberate themselves from their limiting labels and emotional triggers that can keep them feeling small.
Paz Shpirer, MentoBe
Mentobe is a social & for-profit platform, providing mentoring for everyone in every field by smartly matching mentees and experienced mentors to goal achievement.
Penny Maltby, The Ministry of Straw
The Ministry of Straw’, is an initiative to engage wider audiences in both the craft and the material of straw through workshops and contemporary products.
Polly Garrat-Langelier, Ready Steady Move
Ready, Steady, Move is a fitness app for children with the intention to embed physical activity into their daily lives by overriding their device.
Sebastian Stuart, Deskbox
Deskbox is a home working solution that turns any table or flat surface into a productive office space and, once you've finished working, gives you your home back again.
Shereese Peters-Valton, Shades of Culture
Shades of Culture is a cultural consultancy which provides a space for those mainly from a global majority background to feel safe, increase cross-cultural knowledge & learn key skills.
Tumi Onanuga, Typedia
Typedia is a personalised publishing experience for young and existing writers, aimed at building up confidence and creativity in the writing industry.
Paz Shpirer of MentoBe was also the winner of the People’s Choice Prize, which saw the live audience vote for their favourite pitch of the night. She received a business support package worth £100.
A huge congratulations to all who pitched across the two nights!
If you want the opportunity to pitch next semester, Register your interest now.