A huge congratulations to Biological and Medical Sciences graduate, Lucky Ali, who has been shortlisted in the One to Watch category for the 2023 Northern Power Women Awards.
The Awards, sponsored by EY, celebrate individuals and businesses who are pushing boundaries and leading the way to accelerate gender equality and social mobility from the North of England.
The 11 categories aim to highlight trailblazing individuals and organisations who are making an impact, and taking action to accelerate gender equality across the region.
Lucky was an outstanding student who, whilst studying for her degree, also started up her own business with a social purpose in the upcoming area of regeneration Birkenhead. Her store and café provides support to the local community and aims to tackle isolation, food poverty and employability skill gaps by offering low cost food, a warm place to be, and a chance to share Lucky’s skills to support people into employment, regardless of age or background.
Lucky recently won the first ever Wirral Soup community enterprise competition, with a pitch about her business, were she said “We want to offer affordable, healthy, traditional homecooked food to the residents and communities of Birkenhead and beyond. Through our enterprise, we want to create a friendly and engaging Community Hub where people can exchange ideas and experiences as well as enjoy a meal, while also breathing new life into the communities that have been struggling.”
Whilst at University Lucky was involved in many extra-curricular programmes including Design Your Future and Documentary Making by iPhone enterprise projects. She was also the winner of the University of Liverpool Transform Society Challenge 2021 with a pitch for a planting and horticulture initiative to be run within the prison system with the ultimate goal to enhance rehabilitation.
She also took part in a Digital Health Innovation Internship, received a UNIQ Plus Scholarship from the University of Oxford, and worked as a Digital Coach delivering workshops to University students to bridge the digital skills gap. Lucky also found time to work with the Widening Participation team as a Student Advocate, and volunteered as a Peer Mentor to offer support to other students.
Lucky also supported the NHS in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, working alongside her studies to process and test COVID samples in a fast-paced NHS COVID lab based in the Liverpool Clinical Laboratories.
Since graduating last year, Lucky has worked at The University of Liverpool in the Careers and Employability team, supporting the enterprise and entrepreneurship offer and acting as a key contact and mentor for students wanting to begin their own entrepreneurial journey. She also features in the University of Liverpool’s Origin Stories campaign.
Alison Pountney from Careers and Employability said: “It is an honour to support Lucky and continue to watch her grow and develop, working with hundreds of students and recent graduates and supporting them in their entrepreneurial activities, Lucky is definitely my one to watch! We wish her the very best of luck at the Northern Power Women Awards ceremony taking place on 20th March.”
Make things happen with our enterprise programmes
The University of Liverpool Enterprise Fund offers students the chance to apply for awards varying from £500-£5,000 to support the development of an existing enterprise or early-stage business idea.
If you are looking to start a new enterprise or build entrepreneurial skills to be used in employment, then our Careers & Employability team can help you along the way.
Click here to find out more about the support available, and sign-up to the enterprise Green Room to keep up to date with all the latest news and events.