Investing in women and championing gender equality turbocharges a future where everyone in society can thrive, creating a world of boundless opportunity and empowerment for all. We at Oxford Innovation Advice are proud to support many female entrepreneurs, business leaders, coaches and investors through the business support programmes we deliver across the country. Here are a few we would like to celebrate…
Innovate UK Business Growth South East
Celebrating… Auriole Prince from Future Face AI. Future Face AI ages people, in the most positive and health-enhancing way, by showing their future selves based on lifestyle factors. Founder and CEO, Auriole Prince, is an FBI-trained forensic artist.
Auriole’s career began by creating age progression images of missing people – showing what they could look like after a passage of time. She has helped with cases similar to those of Madeline McCann.
A request from schools in Stoke-on-Trent, to create an app that would show students the effect alcohol could have on their future selves, would prove transformative. Auriole and her team of developers rose to the challenge and created the app.
Embracing technology, the company would create AI and machine learning software that visualised faces, factoring in lifestyle influences such as drinking, smoking, diet and exercise. The goal, to help people change habits for the better.
In 2023, Auriole won an Innovate UK Inclusive Innovation Award and was able to invest the grant in developing a new product using AI technology to create a prototype for hyper-personalised skincare tech, helping online shoppers to choose the right skin products for their needs. The Future Face brand was launched, which would create more inclusive AI technology aimed at a diverse global community.
The potential for Future Face is huge. This includes new markets for hyper-personalised cosmeceuticals, the hybrid between environment, lifestyle and skincare, tackling skin conditions from hyper pigmentation to wrinkles.
Access to Finance Plus Cornwall
Celebrating… Alice Harper, founder of Harper’s Health– a start up food manufacturing company that strives to provide affordable, healthy, and distinctive options to add excitement to customer’s snacking routines.
As a nutritionist, Alice has set out the last few years to educate and support people into healthier lifestyles. Her passion in whole foods lead to launching her first range of plant based products, with a pioneering range – ‘Tempiii’.
The mission behind the product is to make the nutritional and delicious wonders of tempeh more accessible to people, in the form of a grab and go snack.
After a successful soft launch locally in Cornwall, Alice paused production to regroup and focus efforts into outsourcing production and scaling for national retail. As part of this, A2F+ became pivotal to helping understand the options surrounding investment, forecasting and cashflow. “As a solo young female founder, I have found the support from an experienced team incredibly reassuring.”
Having already gained interest from some larger retailers, Alice is now in an exciting transition stage for growth and has big dreams to enter national retail as a challenger brand.
Shropshire Manufacturing Growth Programme
Celebrating… Helen Graham, of Ludlow Nut Company. Having left London’s hustle for the tranquillity of Ludlow, Shropshire, Helen Graham and her partner Bob, inspired by Ludlow’s vibrant food culture, transformed their passion for food into the Ludlow Nut Company in 2004.
Focusing on nutritious nuts, dried fruits, and seeds, they began their operation from the basement of their home, quickly moving to local markets and then to wholesale thanks to increasing demand and the support of their community.
Their growth led them to Shropshire Council’s Eco-Business Park, supporting a growing product line that included their own breakfast cereals and a bespoke production kitchen. Helen’s commitment to quality was recognized early on when they became one of the first food companies in the West Midlands to earn SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accreditation. This milestone, along with receiving five Great Taste Awards, underscored their dedication to excellence.
Helen’s engagement with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Programme further propelled the company’s growth. By 2018, the necessity for more space led to the construction of an 8,000 sq ft state-of-the-art production facility, facilitating co-manufacturing projects and product development for notable clients.
Now employing 13 local staff, Helen’s ambition is to transition the Ludlow Nut Company from a cherished regional artisan brand to a nationally recognized leader in healthy, plant-based foods.
