We are delighted to announce the eighth year of awards under the College’s annual entrepreneurship competition, intended to encourage students, researchers and alumni to convert their creativity and knowhow for sustainable commercial and social benefit.
This year’s top prize, with a value of £20,000, has been awarded to La Huerta de Elisa, a £10,000 second prize goes to Arxax, and Sirene Chocolate receives the third prize of £5,000.
Founded by Roxana Antohi (KC 2011), La Huerta de Elisa (Elisa’s Orchard) is an enterprise dedicated to combating high levels of child obesity in Latin America. Its mission is to transform child nutrition by providing fresh, locally sourced, and nutritious meals. Through their initiative, which is now under way in Mexico, they aim to instill healthy eating habits, promote well-being, and create a positive social impact on the lives of millions of children across the region.
Arxax, founded by Elham Hassanzadeh (KC 2007), is a B2B climate-tech startup building carbon intelligence solutions for measurement and reporting of carbon emission in the transport and logistics sector. Arxax's intelligent proprietary platform, H2LLO™ Smart, combines the power of Big Data and IoT connected technologies to provide an innovative carbon intelligence tool to meet the demand of this fast growing carbon management software market.
Founder of Sirene Chocolate Taylor Kennedy (KC 2022) is relocating their manufacturing operations to the same indigenous Q’eqchi Mayan community in Guatemala that introduced chocolate to Europeans over 500 years ago. By partnering with this exceptional farming community, Sirene models a transformative boost to this community's revenue, allowing them to export higher-value chocolate instead of the export of lower-value commodity cocoa beans.
After the annual 'Lyons’ Den' final founder and judge of the King’s Entrepreneurship competition Stuart Lyons CBE (KC 1962) praised the three winners:
We were delighted that this year’s finalists brought forward innovative proposals which were commercially grounded and could create significant and sustainable benefits. The three prize winners all thought through their concepts from an international perspective. If successfully implemented, they will make important contributions to child health in Mexico, a greener Europe and indigenous employment in Guatemala.
If you would like to find out more about the King's Entrepreneurship Prize and how to enter the competition, please email: enterprise@kings.cam.ac.uk
