Alumnae Sri Ellen Hollema, Katie Michaels, and Katerina Mouliadou were all recognised for their remarkable work developing innovative products/companies, and were three of only 50 winners selected from over 1,400 applicants. The award recognises them as leading female entrepreneurs in the UK and provided them with a grant of £75k and bespoke business support to accelerate the growth of their businesses.
Sri Ellen Hollema
Sri completed a degree in Product Design and Technology in 2022, after which she launched her business, Mat Zero, to bring to market a heated sleeping mat powered by solar energy, to provide a safe and sustainable source of warmth for refugees and disaster relief. Sri recently returned from field trials conducted in Nepal and aims to scale production of her product.
Katie Michaels
Katie completed a degree in Industrial and Product Design in 2020, after which she launched Moti Me, which is designing unique technologies to help children with special needs to develop core physical skills such as coordination, muscle strength and range of motion through fun, engaging activities. Moti Me has supported over 100 children across more than 30 healthcare organisations in the UK.
Katerina Mouliadou
Katerina is a Product Design Engineering graduate who was recognised for her work as founder of LIGNOO, the first brand to create sustainable water bottles using bio-based materials and UK supply chains. She is now on a mission to empower parents with the knowledge to make sustainable choices for their children, to help create a cleaner and greener future.
Both Sri and Katie received support to launch their businesses from the Loughborough Enterprise Network (LEN), a unique creative community that supports individuals by providing valuable opportunities to develop their entrepreneurial mindset, skills and knowledge.
Sri and Katie were recognised for their achievement at a dedicated Purple Plaque ceremony held at the STEMLab at the University's East Midlands campus last week. The event included their family, friends, new business founders and Innovate UK, whilst Katerina celebrated earlier in the year at Warwick University.
All three awardees were also celebrated at the LEN Celebration evening which took place last Thursday. Their plaques will now be displayed to inspire more female innovators, with Sri's plaque being placed at the University's School of Design & Creative Arts, Katie's at Ashmount School in Loughborough (which supports children with special educational needs) and Katerina's at Warwick University.
Dr Jo Jennings, Visiting Member of the University and member of the Loughborough Venture Mentor Scheme commented: “These plaques are far more than a symbol; the Purple Plaque campaign actively challenges stereotypes in innovation and pays tribute to the extraordinary contributions of women innovators in STEM. We have shone a spotlight on two trailblazing women who’ve applied their design engineering expertise to develop innovations that are improving and transforming lives. They demonstrate just how powerful it can be when science, engineering, mathematics, creativity and perseverance all come together to solve real-world problems. Through their ventures, both Katie and Sri are tackling issues of wellbeing, inclusion and inequality by addressing these challenges alongside technical impactful innovations.
“At Loughborough University we are immensely proud that they have been recognised by Innovate UK – and immensely proud that they represent a community of the University’s women who are driving change — from researchers developing sustainable technologies, to students launching start-ups, to alumnae leading global companies and scientific breakthroughs.”