#SU54 Founder Series Anike Mlemchukwu
After finding the Foundervine Start Up 54 event online I knew I was in for an amazing weekend, a feeling that was solidified as I walked into a room filled with young, intelligent like-minded people.
The night began and we all sat down in groups at the table. Listening to all the ideas circulate was amazing. I knew I made the right decision by attending. I sat patiently with mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety from my desire to work on an idea that I felt passionate about.
The first stage was pitching an idea to the room. All I thought was, 'wow I know I’m passionate about my idea but so are all of these other young, intelligent professionals.' Then it was crunch time. Votes were in and my fingers were crossed hoping my idea would attract enough interest to build a team.
As the names went on the screen and I scanned to find mine, I quickly realised that my desire to work on my idea for the weekend may not become a reality. But as teams started to form Izzy announced “If anyone is really passionate about their idea and still wants to work on it this weekend come see me” I immediately thought: “She’s talking to me!” Luckily one other intelligent young lady was also passionate about my idea. I thought: just the two of us? Really? Can we do it? Should we do it?
My passion quickly overcame my doubt and we both agreed to go ahead for the weekend.
And what a great weekend it was! The workshops, online discussions and mentor sessions helped to mould the idea and taught me so many skills that I will apply to different situations. Working together to get such great feedback from the pitches gave me increased confidence to push forward with the idea.
A few months later, I have created Lapapo a community platform for carers of children with special needs and been selected to pitch to a start up organisation for social entrepreneurs.
I’m grateful for all that I have learned through Foundervine and all that I continue to learn through the Foundervine Community.
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We've just announced our next Startup 54: Future of Finance this March! Do you want to build a start-up that will shape the future of finance, and transform how we interact with financial products and services for good?