Exeter masters graduates, Hakeem Buge, Hugo Tilmouth, and Chris Aoun have won the Shell LiveWIRE Smarter Future award.

Mobile phone charging network wins Shell LiveWIRE award

ChargedUp from Innovate Energy, headed up by Hugo Tilmouth, Hakeem Buge and Chris Aoun have been awarded the acclaimed Shell LiveWIRE Smarter Future award. Recent masters graduates in Renewable Energy Engineering from the University of Exeter, they were singled out for ChargedUp, their innovative mobile phone charging network. ChargedUp uses power from green energy suppliers allowing users to pick-up and drop-off batteries, to keep their phones ChargedUp, from a network of locations in towns and cities.

Hakeem said: ‘With initial funding from from Exeter’s Think:Try:Do Student Startup Support Programme, we set out to test the market at the Royal Cornwall Show in June. Following the success at this show, we developed the business model and applied for the Shell LiveWIRE Smarter Future competition’.

The Shell LiveWIRE Smarter Future programme offers monthly awards to young entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas that will meet the needs of a growing population in a smarter, more sustainable way.

Innovate Energy won the public vote with their elevator pitch video. Public support, plus the independent votes from the Smarter Future judges, crowned Innovate Energy the official winners for the month of July 2017.
 
Innovate Energy will receive £5,000 in start-up funding and will participate in the Shell LiveWIRE mentoring programme, which matches entrepreneurs with Shell experts to provide tailored business development support. The group will also be considered for the annual £25,000 Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Hugo Tilmouth said: ‘Given the competition, we are incredibly excited and honoured to have won the Shell LiveWIRE award. Not only will the funding enable us to develop the vending machines, but the high profile nature of the competition will help build our profile’.

Joe Pearce, Business Support Manager said: ‘I am delighted with the achievements that Innovate Energy have made. They have shown the essential commitment and passion to develop their business idea. I have no doubt that the Shell LiveWIRE award will help propel the business forward by providing unique opportunities and exposure to further validate their business concept’.

It is estimated that 17.4 GWh is used to power mobile phones in London each year, which is the equivalent of providing energy to over 750 homes. The ChargedUp system will provide clean, renewable energy to its service users by offsetting their energy usage through our partnership with Ecotricity, the UK’s leading green energy supplier.

Chris Aoun said: ‘We are focused on building a green network, so this investment will be used to develop the software and hardware required for our vending networks’.

Date: 7 August 2017