A young entrepreneur from Kent has won the prestigious Young Innovators award.

The Young Innovators programme was created in 2018 by Innovate UK in partnership with The Prince’s Trust to find young people from across the UK with great business ideas.

Each year they select young people from diverse backgrounds to win the award, giving them a grant of £5000, one-on-one business coaching and an allowance to cover living costs.

This year, the programme had an unprecedented level of entries with an 87% increase in applications from the previous year This meant that the number of winners also doubled.

Nearly a third of this year’s winners are from a BAME background. Whereas 49% of the winners are female and 17% have a disability.

Valentina Dipietro, 26, is one of 64 young people from across Britain to receive the award this year.

She is the founder of her own company, Mykor, which specialises in a sustainable material made from wood waste, natural dyes and the root of mushrooms. Valentina herself came up with this innovative material which is fire retardant, insulating and sound-absorbing.

Invicta News caught up with the young entrepreneur to catch her reaction to winning the award.

Take us back to how you felt when you first found out that you won the award. How did you feel?

How did you come up with your innovative idea, the sustainable material which Mykor specialises in?

You decided to start up your business right in the middle of a global pandemic.  Do you have to be a certain type of person to face such a challenge?

To hear more on this story please tune into our radio programme, the link will be provided soon!