Student wins £3,000 whilst studying from Essex Startups

A budding entrepreneur has praised the “extremely valuable” business support and £3,000 investment she has received through a female-focused scheme.

Charlotte Moore, a Sport and Exercise Science student, was invited to the six-week Empower: Female Founders programme after developing the idea for a unique product during her course.

Charlotte - with the support of The University’s in-house Essex Startups team - created an athletic-spike overshoe which protects the expensive equipment – and increases the life of the trainers.

Charlotte has been awarded £3,000 after successfully pitching her idea at the end of the programme.

The investment has allowed her to take her business to the next step as she has been able to get prototypes for her product and create a portfolio.

The Empower: Female Founders programme helped female entrepreneurs conquer tough challenges they faced whilst launching and running a business.

By the end of the initiative, participants learnt everything they needed to start up their own businesses.

They also worked to discover their own values, strengths, and creativity they can bring to their own business.

Charlotte said: “It was extremely valuable for both my professional and personal development. It was great to hear from speakers from a variety of business backgrounds, to understand how they have maximised opportunities and dealt with challenges along the way.

“At the end of the programme I was delighted to be awarded with the investment.

“This has allowed me to pursue the design and manufacture of prototypes, aiding the creation of a portfolio as I prepare to explore partnership opportunities with some of the big sportswear brands.”

The programme is run by Essex Startups and was specifically designed to provide support to underrepresented groups within the innovation and entrepreneurship community

Each week welcomes a different guest speaker to share their own start-up journey and lead a themed business discussion.

This article was written by third year Media and Digital Culture student Amber Gent