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Molly Ratcliffe won the top prize at the Female Founders Pitching Competition, winning £3,500 to support her sustainability-driven business, WasteProjekt.
Interior Architecture and Design graduate, Molly Ratcliffe won the top prize at the Female Founders Pitching Competition, winning £3,500 to support her sustainability-driven business, WasteProjekt. The Female Founders Pitching Competition, which awarded a share of a £5,000 prize fund, marked the culmination of a four-week programme empowering and supporting women entrepreneurs across Birmingham. The top prize of £3,500 was awarded to alumna Molly Ratcliffe.
The Female Founders Pitching Competition was organised by Birmingham’s universities: BCU, Aston University, University of Birmingham, and University College Birmingham, in partnership with local sponsors HSBC and Bruntwood SciTech.
The event featured pitches from five finalists and supported 40 female entrepreneurs through expert mentoring, 1:1 business advice, and the opportunity to pitch their ideas to industry leaders.
Participants also benefited from networking opportunities and a supportive entrepreneurial community, helping them overcome barriers and develop their ideas.
Molly graduated with a degree in Interior Architecture and Design in 2022, and impressed the judges with her business, WasteProjekt. Molly received the £3,500 fund at the Female Founders Pitching Competition.
WasteProjekt is a sustainability-driven initiative, transforming food waste into biodegradable gardening products, starting with innovative plant pots.
Supported by the Student and Graduate Enterprise Team, Molly was able to bring WasteProjekt to life.
Molly is now planning to use the prize money for preparing the launch of her products at BBC Gardeners' World Live 2025, showcasing WasteProjekt to a national audience.
Molly reflected: “The Female Founders Programme has been an incredible journey of growth, creativity, and collaboration. Seeing so many talented women come together, share their passion, and support one another was truly inspiring.
“This journey started with a fascination for biomaterials and the belief that waste isn’t an end, but a beginning. I’m driven to show that sustainability can be seamlessly woven into everyday practices, even gardening.”
If you want to find out more about how the Student Enterprise Team supports students, you can contact them and find out more here Student and Graduate Enterprise Team.