9 King's Entrepreneurs named semi-finalists in Mayor's Entrepreneur competition

18 May 2021

9 King's Entrepreneurs named semi-finalists in Mayor's Entrepreneur competition

Entrepreneurship Institute

Some of King's best and brightest innovators have made it to the semi-finals of the annual entrepreneur competition.

The London Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition looks for the best and brightest student business ideas to help deliver good growth for London, to help the city become cleaner, greener and ready for the future, and, to ensure students get the skills they need to succeed in a fair, inclusive society and thriving economy.

This year the competition included four challenge Awards; the Environment Award (for innovations to reduce carbon emissions and improve the environment in London), Tech Award (for technological innovations to help make London a better place to live and work), the Creative Industries Award (innovations to make the creative industries across London more sustainable) and the Health Award (innovations that improve physical and/or mental health for Londoners, reduce waste and make the health sector more sustainable).

This year, out of 140 semifinalists, nine King’s students have been selected to take their business ideas to the next stage of the competition. Finalists will be announced at the end of May, with the final pitching and awards scheduled for early June.

Meet the semi-finalists!

Emma Amoscato (MSc Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health)
SMILE

SMILE is a website and app that will help support people's mental health when they, or their family, are diagnosed with a long term or life threatening health condition. It will help people dealing with cancer, diabetes, anaphylactic food allergies or other challenges to feel less anxious and manage difficult emotions. It will offer articles, videos, live support groups and therapist sessions, as well as a way to personalise and save helpful content for when you need it.

SMILE was also a semi-finalist in this year's Idea Factory.

"I wouldn't be in the semi-final of the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition without the Entrepreneur Institute's workshops and mentoring, which have helped me grow and refine my business idea. I'm excited to share my app to improve the mental health of people living with long term health conditions and I'll be using the pitching skills I've learnt to try and make it to the final!"
Emma Amoscato, SMILE

Flavia Davidhi (BSc Neuroscience) and Karmen Markov (BSc Neuroscience)
Cognuse

Cognuse builds digital health solutions for healthcare staff and patients with a focus on improving guidelines adherence, enhancing care quality and patient safety across the care continuum. Cognuse’s core product, CoNurse, is a voice-guided protocol adherence mobile application that improves quality and standardisation of healthcare by supporting healthcare staff with step-by-step institution-specific guidelines for clinical protocols, significantly reducing preventable adverse events.

Studying at King’s equipped us with outstanding research, interpersonal and entrepreneurial skills that we apply to our jobs every day. Our mission with our product, CoNurse, is to improve nurses’ and caregivers’ experience, so that they can fulfil their passion without sacrificing their emotional wellbeing. We are incredibly excited to be selected as semi-finalists of the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Programme 2021 and we hope contribute to providing much-needed support to healthcare workers in London hospitals!
Flavia Davidhi and Karmen Markov, Cognuse

Sara Gilmer (MSc Health Psychology)
ViVi, the pap app

Cervical cancer screening uptake is currently at a 20-year low in the UK. ViVi, the pap app, is a smart solution that aims to increase screening accessibility and uptake through improving the patient's comfort and overall experience.

Sara is participating in the Entrepreneurship Institute's Enterprise Award.

By taking part in the Entrepreneurship Institute’s Enterprise Award, I've been able to take the necessary steps to develop my idea, ViVi. I am now in the semi-finals of the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition 2021 which is very exciting and validating.
Sara Gilmer, ViVi

Isaac McNamara (BSc Geography)
HydroGrow

HydroGrow is an easier and more sustainable way for you to grow your own food. Unlike traditional gardening, our systems are 100% autonomous. You can grow anything, anytime, anywhere. All our systems are made from 100% recycled plastic, which we collect ourselves from our London partners.

HydroGrow was a semi-finalist in this year's Idea Factory and was also awarded the People's Choice Award.

King’s has provided a wealth of societies and opportunities which has allowed me to grow my entrepreneurial skills and meet like-minded people. ...we have won the Idea Factory’s People Choice Award 2021, named finalists in the Unilever’s Our planet, Our future award 2021 and won the Ford C3 Innovation Challenge 2021 which has led us to the semi-finals of The Mayor’s Entrepreneurship Award 2021. With the mentorship from Enactus, Unilever and the King’s Entrepreneur Institute we have been able to refine and grow our company ...We are so grateful for all the mentorship we have been given and can’t wait to see where we go next.
Isaac McNamara, HydroGrow

Manman Xu (MSc International Marketing)
VouchYa

VouchYa helps young expats identify the latest multi-buy discounts in their areas and connect with others interested in the same offer to share the deal and split the bill. It aims to reduce social isolation exacerbated by financial difficulties, build a support community of win-win savings, and make London a more inclusive and affordable place for young single expats.

I’m honoured that VouchYa has made this year’s semi-final for the Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition. During my application, I have received tremendous support from King’s Entrepreneurship Institute and the Mayor's Entrepreneur workshop team, for which I’m eternally grateful.
Manman Xu, VouchYa

Aysha Ingar (MBBS)
Muslimah

Muslimah is an app that can instantly locate prayer spaces from Mosques to multi-faith centres and most importantly identify whether spaces are female friendly. It is designed with the Muslimah user in mind and is the only Islamic app tailored for Muslim women.

Aysha won the Entrepreneurship Institute's Idea Factory in 2019 and was part of the King's20 Accelerator in 2019-2020.

I was very fortunate to join the King’s20 Accelerator whilst at the beginning of creating Muslimah. It was extremely important in helping me find my feet. Being surrounded by ventures who were at similar stages as I am, not only makes the process fun and enjoyable but offers a fantastic way of learning from each other.
Aysha Ingar, Muslimah

Thushara Thayaparan, Dylan Patel and Alisha Amin (Bachelor of Dental Surgery)
Consultdent

Consultdent is a software that risk assesses patients for dental diseases and then provides in-depth preventative advice tailored to every single patient using the software. 

We are really looking forward to pitching in the Mayor’s Entrepreneurship Competition this year! We appreciate all your support and will keep you updated on our progress, in the meantime please follow us on our new Instagram @consult.dent 🦷
Thushara Thayaparan, Dylan Patel and Alisha Amin, Consultdent

Sohaib Ashraf (BSc Mathematics)
Dinespace

Using Dinespace diners can pre-order food and pre-pay the bill directly before they arrive at restaurants. This saves time and reduces stress for diners. Meanwhile, restaurants serve more people faster and hence generate higher revenues.

I am proud to be representing the King's College London in Mayor’s Entrepreneur 2021 TechAwards.
Sohaib Ashraf, Dinespace

Joseph Lee (BA Politics)
Re:Legal

Re:Legal helps SMEs bring their meritorious cases to the court and help fund their legal costs by analysing past court cases and predicting case outcomes.

We see the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition as a great platform to help raise awareness in social and economic justice for SMEs in London. We’ve also been in talks with King’s Legal Clinic about building a community for London businesses with little financial means to help them navigate the UK legal system and litigation funding.
Joseph Lee, Re:Legal