Female Innovators From Sussex Win National Award And £50,000 Government Backing

Thursday, 10 March 2022 06:00

By Dominic Kureen @WriteOnDom

Two trailblazing female entrepreneurs from Sussex have been recognised by Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards for their game-changing enterprises.

Carolina Avellaneda from Worthing and Leslie Gaston-Bird from Brighton are among 38 pioneering women across the UK awarded a cash injection of £50,000 each, as well as bespoke mentoring and coaching to enable them to scale their businesses.

Carolina Avellaneda, 47, is the co-founder of BubbleLife, which has developed a biodegradable alternative to plastic packaged liquid soaps, shower and bath products.

All products are cruelty-free, vegan and organic and contain no palm oil or SLS.

Carolina said:

"We created our company, BubbleLife, to develop a biodegradable alternative to plastic packaging for liquid toiletries.

"This award is changing the future of my company, it’s speeding up our product development and subsequently our IP protection.

"I’m confident about the incredible difference we’ll make with our products — can you imagine our daily routine without plastic containers? Well, I can and I’ll make it real for all of us!"

Leslie, 52, is training women and underrepresented groups with the technical skills to create immersive, 3D sound content through her company, Mix Messiah Productions.

She said:

"(Our goal is to) create a pipeline of skilled women with the necessary social capital to work in immersive audio within the industry.

"Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Award means we will be able to set up a laboratory for training and our students can become a part of the burgeoning field of immersive audio for television, film, podcasts, gaming, and VR applications."

The flagship Women in Innovation Awards is a key part of Innovate UK’s commitment to boosting the number of female entrepreneurs across the British Isles.

Encouraging new government research shows nearly 40 per cent of UK FTSE 100 board positions are now held by women, compared with 12.5 per cent 10 years ago.