If you’re following the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge then you’ll have seen our five finalists announced recently. These talented young entrepreneurs will go head to head at our Grand Final on 1st March, competing for the £10,000 Grand Prize!
We wanted to get to know our finalists a little better, and allow you to get an insight of who they are and what they’re about.
Today we talk to our third finalist, Naomi McGregor from Northern Ireland. Naomi tell us a little bit about yourself!
Hi i’m Naomi, I am 25 years old and from Northern Ireland. I graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 2020 with a 1st Class Masters in Product Design Engineering.
I’m the founder and CEO of Movetru, a multi-award-winning technology startup. I have received awards from the Royal Academy of Engineering, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and Innovate UK.
I was a recipient of international travel scholarships, including training from CDIO, a world-renown engineering framework from Stanford University.
Within industry, I have experience in product development, autonomous vehicles, production, manufacture process, and sales. As a passionate STEM ambassador, I have dedicated hundreds of hours into voluntary work and published a TEDx Talk.
What are your future ambitions Naomi?
My hope is for Movetru to change the lives of people across the globe with revolutionary technology that will optimise performance, reduce rehabilitation time, and prevent injury.
With Movetru, we will save money, save time, and save careers using the latest groundbreaking innovation. With future developments already planned, I am excited by the ability to be at the forefront of the wearable technology industry.
On a more personal level, I aspire to continue being a STEM ambassador and to advocate for women in STEM of all ages. I have always felt that it is so important to be able to use my voice to share my story and inspire others.
In 2020, I had the amazing opportunity to give a TEDx Talk. I chose to discuss the topic of women’s struggles in STEM positions and my own personal experience with this. The speech was entitled ‘Why Women Shouldn’t Be Engineers,’ and the feedback I received from this was so rewarding!
Not only do I want to change lives with my technology, but I want to do it with my voice as well.
How did you hear about the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge?
I actually know previous winners of the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge from being in the start-up community. This is a community I always feel so privileged to be able to be a part of as everyone is so supportive of each other.
I saw from the previous winners highlights just how incredible the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge was.
The support received from the competition, along with the overall experience seemed amazing and I knew I had to apply!
How did you find the application process?
I actually thought the application process was great because of how simple it was kept – just talk about your business!
This is something that, as entrepreneurs, we are all too familiar with and it allowed me to write the application to the best of my ability!
The video required was also very short and added a more fun, different element to the application process.
For any further applicants wondering what to do, just go for it!
What inspired you to come up with your business idea?
At 14 years old, I injured myself in ballet. It took three years and eight different specialists to diagnose the issue. At this time, I was told I would never be able to dance again.
Unfortunately, my story is not unique, and people across the world suffer from life-altering injuries that could be dealt with in a more efficient manner or even prevented entirely.
With my passion for dance, frustration of injury, and background in engineering, I put my specialist knowledge and deep tech solution forward to create Movetru.
If you win the competition, how will you invest the prize money?
With the funding from this award, we will be able to finalise our hardware to generate pre-sales for an exclusive launch of Movetru. So, the funding would be an absolute game-changer for us!
Naomi thank you so much for talking to us. We wish you the best of luck in the Grand Final on the 1st March!
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