'I hope students at King's feel inspired to make a difference in the world'

‘My continued involvement with King’s isn’t something that I meticulously plan,’ says Andreia Trigo. ‘I stay connected to people and things just continue to happen…’

Pondering the future

One such ‘thing’ saw Andreia accept an invitation to be a guest speaker at the graduation ceremony for our Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care in January 2025.

‘It was an incredible experience,’ she recalls. ‘I gave a speech around curiosity. I graduated as a nurse and I never imagined my career would involve founding businesses.

‘My speech encouraged those graduating to be curious about what their futures might look like. Artificial intelligence is changing lots of sectors and that includes nursing. I asked everyone to wonder how we can ensure better care for patients in that new world.’

Inspiring the next generation

One of Andreia’s long-term relationships at King’s is with our Entrepreneurship Institute.

‘The Institute gave me a lot of support when I was an alum founding my businesses,’ says Andreia. ‘I attended their 10th anniversary as a guest panellist in March 2025.

‘When new cohorts start at the Institute, I’ll often be a guest speaker. It’s important to me that I can be an example of a female entrepreneur who’s come through that system.’

Andreia’s also been a guest speaker at King’s Business School and at the K20 Accelerator.

She continues: ‘The Accelerator turbo-boosts start-ups founded at King’s. It was incredibly useful when I needed help to take Enhanced Fertility forward.’

Making a difference

That help was also a motivating factor in Andreia supporting King’s via a donation.

Andreia explains: ‘The idea started when we had a King’s College London nursing student as an intern at Enhanced Fertility.

‘She had this idea to create pocket cards so nurses could check the amount of milk and medication they had to give babies. Because newborns are so petite, it’s important to be able to calculate those amounts in a precise manner.

‘So we supported her to print these cards and collect feedback to validate the idea.’

With support from the Philanthropy Team, this engagement became official for the next three years, to continue supporting other students.

‘It’s not a huge amount of money,’ she says. ‘But it will make a difference to a student entrepreneur who has an idea and wants to validate it.’

Future collaborations

One of Andreia’s next engagements on campus is at our Artificial Intelligence Nurses Network Conference in September 2026.

Andreia explains: ‘AI is an area I’m interested in. I recently did a TEDx Talk asking whether AI will fix or break healthcare. I met Dr Siobhán O’Connor, who’s running the Conference, through the Philanthropy Team. She invited me to be a keynote speaker.

‘I’m also collaborating with another King’s academic, Louise Rose. My first business, SedateUK, delivers general sedation and dental sedation courses. A lot of nurses have been asking us about Intensive Care Unit sedation.

‘This is a complex topic and there aren’t many specific guidelines. We engaged with Professor Louise Rose, who specialises in sedation, and we’ve now writing the Handbook of ICU Sedation. We’ll bring it to market alongside an online course in the next few months.’

Forever King’s

Andreia has only positive things to say about her ongoing relationship with King’s.

She reflects: ‘I remember the first day I arrived on campus. I recall going up the stairs and feeling at home. Since graduating, I feel like I’ve never left that home.

‘Some of these opportunities are beneficial for my career as a nurse and an entrepreneur. They’re beneficial for King’s and, most of all, I hope they’re beneficial for students. I hope they feel inspired to go into innovation and entrepreneurship, and make a difference in the world.’