Gladys Mwamba, who won the Business and Social Impact Awards at Startup Sussex 2025
In April, the University of Sussex Careers and Entrepreneurship Team held its annual entrepreneurship competition, Startup Sussex. Eleven shortlisted teams pitched to a panel of judges and an audience of their peers, from which five winners were chosen and awarded prizes.
Startup Sussex is underwritten by the University of Sussex as part of its commitment to support student entrepreneurship, backed by a generous private donation from a Sussex alumnus. Every year, shortlisted finalists pitch to secure funding that can help them bring their ideas to life. There was a record number of applications this year, with nearly 60 teams applying for the chance to pitch.
Plastic Pound initiative wins two top prizes
This year, Environment, Development & Policy MA student Gladys Mwamba took home two top prizes after winning first place for both the Business and Social Impact Awards. In total, her pitch won £10,000 to move forward with her social enterprise Plastic Pound, an innovative and multipronged support network that is already operating at the border of DRC and Zambia. Plastic Pound creates gainful, legitimate employment opportunities for women to lead critical waste picking efforts and is working to build relationships with other African local authorities to bring its replicable model to more regions struggling to find effective solutions for low employment, disenfranchisement, and plastic pollution.
Mwamba said: "I cannot contain my joy. Everything I envisioned for my Sussex journey has come to pass—and more. We plan to use the prize funding to apply for business licenses and formal registration under Zambia’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, increase plastic waste collection by onboarding 50 more waste pickers, and purchasing protective clothing and equipment to ensure the safety and dignity of our workers.”
More success at Startup Sussex 2025
The second prize in the Business Award went to Sophie Buck (Artificial Intelligence & Adaptive Systems MSc) for her neurodivergent media project Autisticulture, a magazine and content platform designed for and created by autistic people. Third place went to Caine Morris (Business and Management BSc) and Olivier Hinds (Mechanical Engineering BSc) for their company Car-Go, which seeks to meaningfully reduce waste in the logistics industry. The second place prize for the Social Impact Award went to Jacqueline Carhoun (Psychology PhD), who is developing an educational app to support the families of loved ones struggling with opioid addiction.
All shortlisted candidates received funding to support the development of their ideas and had a chance to pitch to and receive feedback from a distinguished panel of judges. The 2025 judges were Simon Chuter, Head of Centres and Investment Services at Sussex Innovation; Monica Masucci, Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship; Alumni Sammy Moore, founder of Saz London and advocate for Women in Business; and Matt Montgomery, Head of Sustainability at the University of Sussex.
Head of Careers and Entrepreneurship, Emily Huns, congratulated all finalists, adding, “The quality and volume of applications to Startup Sussex is testament to the strength of our Entrepreneurship Programme here at Sussex, and to the passion our students and staff have for social impact business. We’re incredibly proud of all our finalists, and look forward to continuing to support them as they develop their businesses and flourish as entrepreneurs.”
The hosts for the awards evening were the Entrepreneurship team’s Senior Enterprise Officers Adele Meyer and alumnus Louise Harman, who won Startup Sussex in 2021 for her thought leadership project Louise on Death, which explores our modern relationship with death. Louise said: "I know how hard all the finalists worked on their ideas and know first-hand the impact winning Startup Sussex can have on your future. We are very grateful to our private donor and our judges, who make it possible for us to support entrepreneurial students as they launch their business ideas.”
About Startup Sussex
Startup Sussex is the University’s long-running ideas competition for students and recent graduates. It has a long history of supporting new founders who have gone on to success and media acclaim. Past winners include Darren Tenkorang of TRIM-IT and Lucy Hughes of MarinaTex.
Startup Sussex sits at the heart of a full programme of entrepreneurship support, from one-to-one coaching sessions and personal development workshops to a twelve-month incubator delivered in partnership with Sussex Innovation, who have a long-standing connection to the competition. For the first time, aspiring Startup Sussex applicants were also invited to participate in a five-week early-stage ideation support programme, designed to help students develop their applications using the Design Thinking process to sharpen their ideas.
About Entrepreneurship at Sussex
Got a big idea for a better world? Or curious about learning new skills and exploring venture creation? The Entrepreneurship team can help you get started with one-to-one support, startup workshops, and funding opportunities.
They can support students and recent graduates from the early stages of developing an idea for a business or social enterprise, all the way through to launching and scaling your venture.
They also provide workshops and services for those who simply want to gain skills that employers look for, like problem-solving, team-work, creative thinking and pitching ideas.
You can learn more about accessing support from the Entrepreneurship team on the Student Hub.