{"id":2716,"date":"2026-05-22T15:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/?p=2716"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:30:12","slug":"aspire-pitching-competition-2026-winners-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/2026\/05\/22\/aspire-pitching-competition-2026-winners-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"ASPIRE Pitching Competition 2026 winners announced!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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ASPIRE Pitching Competition 2026 winners announced!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A start-up selling delicious Latin American dessert took first place in a exciting pitching competition celebrating ASPIRE\u2019s tenth anniversary.<\/p>\n

Anbakan Varatharasan, a final-year Finance and Investment student at Kent Business School, started Sugar Sweet, a social media-based dessert business, during his first year at university. He felt that a famous Latin American dessert, Tres Leches, was missing from the UK\u2019s dessert scene. Since launching his business, Anbakan has seen strong traction from both individual customers and growing interest from local retailers. He took the sweet spot in the competition and won \u00a35,000 to help accelerate his venture. The winner said: \u201cThe proof is in the pudding!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Runners-up\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Runners-up were:
\nOrion Richards, an International Business & Management student with First Choice Apparel, offering high-quality and customisable branded merchandise; and Matt Liston, an MBA student with Alongside Fit, an innovative AI-powered personal training app. Both runners-up won \u00a31,000 and \u00a3500 respectively.<\/p>\n

Judges in the Dragons\u2019 Den style pitching competition praised the highquality and diversity of ventures pitched. In total, ten Kent students entered the Dragons\u2019 Den to impress the judges.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Anabelle Nartey (Medicine) \u2013 TalearntMed AI, an AI-driven solution transforming medical school selection processes
\n\u2022 Michael Obiuwevbi (Accounting & Finance) \u2013 Bakudi, a \u201cfinancial Duolingo\u201d platform
\n\u2022 Naomi Donovan (PhD English) \u2013 Nitrox2, reimagining the retail experience
\n\u2022 Miracle Tanimola (Business & Management) \u2013 Mivelle, addressing underserved fashion markets
\n\u2022 Victory Aligwo (Biomedical Engineering) \u2013 IMAKEYOUWIN3D, a 3D printing venture
\n\u2022 Laura Rosado De Sousa Uva Cocharro (Biomedical Sciences) \u2013 Porbicalm, an innovation in periocular dermatitis treatment
\n\u2022 Sam Chung (Finance, Investment & Risk) \u2013 Skopia, an investment risk forecasting platform<\/p>\n

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The judges were:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Emay Enemokwu, KBS graduate and founder of the JEHUCAL streetwear brand
\n\u2022 Nadia Simpson, KBS graduate and founder of the From Amora and NuEleFa beauty brands
\n\u2022 Daniel Rubin, KBS graduate (Second 500), Kent Honorary Doctor and founder of Dune London
\n\u2022 Alex Ford, Computer Science graduate, serial entrepreneur and founder of Claro Wealth
\n\u2022 Nimisha Raja, founder of Nim\u2019s and innovator in the food and drink industry<\/p>\n

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The pitching finals also featured student entrepreneurs from across campus taking part in a vibrant pop-up market. Stallholders presented carefully crafted products spanning multiple sectors, including handmade beauty items, perfumes, and jewellery. There was a particularly strong presence of fashion and food and drink brands, alongside ventures from the art and service industries. The market not only demonstrated the breadth of student innovation but also the programme\u2019s emphasis on practical, experience-led learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event concluded with a celebration of ASPIRE\u2019s ten-year journey which has seen the co-curricular programme work with more than 4,000 students, support the founding of more than 70 businesses and deliver grants and prize money totalling more than \u00a3130,000.<\/p>\n

ASPIRE\u2019s impact extends beyond financial support, fostering entrepreneurial mindsets, interdisciplinary collaboration, and real-world problem-solving.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ASPIRE Pitching Competition 2026 winners announced! A start-up selling delicious Latin American dessert took first place in a exciting pitching competition celebrating ASPIRE\u2019s tenth anniversary. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86749,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[312383,223276,309363,1479,202865],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86749"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2716"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2733,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions\/2733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}