A young entrepreneur from Derry is one of four Northern Irish winners of the Young Innovator Award with Innovate UK.
The Northern Ireland winners will take a share of the £1.25 million prize fund.
They join a cohort of 94 young people aged 18 to 30 with business ideas that could change the world and will benefit from a £5,000 grant, one-on-one business coaching and an allowance to cover living costs.
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Hugh Callaghan, 27 years old, from Derry is developing UnifyMee, a tailored website builder, toolkit, and marketplace that empowers creators to easily build and scale their business and brand all in one place.
Hugh hopes to create a one-stop site that will help content creators develop their passion into their livelihood.
Speaking to MyDerry, Hugh expressed his feelings when he was announced as one of the winners of the Innovate UK award.
Hugh said: "I did a lot of research into the creative industry and could see there was a demand for what I was proposing. I was an amateur content creator so I thought if I wanted to make a career and monetise creating content where would I start and no one platform could deliver what I was looking for. The goal was to help those in the creator economy build a career out of their passion and so that is where it started.
"The vision for UnifyMee is to build a platform to support creators at every level and give them the tools to succeed. It is a one stop solution for anyone who creates and distributes content online. For me coming from a digital marketing background I have found that there are so many tools that creators are not used to using if they do not have a marketing background that could help them massively."
Hugh came across the Young Innovator Award in a LinkedIn advert, and took the chance despite having some self-doubts.
"What appealed to me was the year of mentoring alongside the financial support. I have never been an entrepreneur or anything like that so to have someone to help me along that process was really appealing.
"I am glad I went for it because it has definitely helped me pursue the idea further and given me a lot of support. You always think you’re never going to get these things and there’s a lot of imposter syndrome and you question if you can do it but it was so good when I heard I was one of the winners. It validates that I am on the right track and boosted my confidence.
"It is definitely a privilege to be part of the Young Innovators and be part of a large cohort of very intelligent people. I am glad I can actually tell people now about the award now but there is still a long road ahead.
"If there is anyone out there who has an idea that they want to pursue I would definitely recommend the Innovate UK programmes. You might not think you can do it or you’re not capable but you just have to go for it.
"That fear of failure is the biggest thing but I have gotten past that with the help of Innovate UK. I just wanted to mention and thank my co-founder Rachael Hagan for all help too."
Creators can keep up to date with UnifyMee and get early access here.
If you’re an inspiring young innovator, check out how Innovate UK could support you here: https://ktn-uk.org/programme/young-innovators
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