Chaired by Professor Mat Hughes and Dr Simone Corsi, the panel came together on 20 May to discuss their business and experiences.
Two alumnae, Orianna Acheampong and Anthonia Ademuyiwa, are Co-Founders at Iséda’s Garden, offering a range of beauty treatments for people in North West London. Using their degrees in Chemistry, they have leveraged their scientific and research backgrounds in their approach to sourcing components in their beauty products and treatments.
The pair discussed developing their home laboratory, bringing their product to life, and talked about how their chemistry knowledge teamed with innovation has the potential to improve peoples’ quality of life by treating skin conditions effectively.
Sharing one piece of advice, Anthonia said:
“Start as if you’re going to go public one day and set solid foundations.”
Martin Gossling, CEO of 270 Vision was also on the panel. During his career, he has had numerous patents granted in various design fields including medical devices such as wearable motion sensors and technology used by clinicians in remote patient assessment.
The alumnus talked about his passion for developing products that help society. He said:
“You have to believe with a passion that your innovation will change someone’s life.”
He continued to talk about curiosity, the willingness and interest to improve and change something such as a household product, and adaptation of society.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London graduate Benjamin Ndubuisi is the Founder at VING. AI, a secure currency exchange platform for Africans living in the UK. The exchange takes place via an escrow engine, allowing individuals to find a match and safely exchange currency at mutually agreed rates.
Talking about solving a problem with his innovation, Benjamin gave an insight into how his product first came about, and his vision to develop a solution to take away hassle.
Benjamin said: “The mind is sharpest when faced with a crisis”.
He continued to discuss having a boldness to create the future you imagine and encouraged people to ask themselves what they’re passionate about.
Product Design graduate James Roberts founded at mOm Incubators off the back of his Design School Degree Show project in 2014, when he designed an incubator as his final year project. James shared his experiences at the event, talking about trialling the product, taking it to market, and exploring different markets overseas. He talked about the changes from being a designer to heading up the organisation as CEO of mOm.
Sharing a final piece of advice, James said:
“Don’t worry about not knowing everything, you’ll learn.”
Alumni and students joined the session via Microsoft Teams, which formed part of the Alumni Association’s Insights events series.
If you would like to see a recording of the event, please get in touch.