Michele Raicher
Michèle Raicher was encouraged to join the Ingenuity Lab after developing a business plan as part of her MSc in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Management at the Haydn Green Institute.
She wanted to focus on equine health and welfare, and decided to develop an insect repellent device for horses.
“I love animals and my aim is to help”, she explained. “The horse I ride injured itself at the stables after becoming agitated by a horse fly, whose stings can be very painful. If a horse is scared, its natural reaction is to run away. The problem is, if you’re riding – especially as a beginner – and the horse bolts, it might create an accident where both horse and rider are injured. With better insect repellents and technology, many accidents could be prevented.”
Michèle has been at the Lab since 2018, developing her product and building a network of business contacts and like-minded budding entrepreneurs. She was one of the ten finalists on last year’s Ingenuity Programme, and was awarded a number of prizes at the Ingenuity19 Awards Ceremony, securing funding to help her business grow.
The Lab helps in lots of different ways. There’s all the seminars, all the mentoring sessions – but what is most important is getting to speak with like-minded people on a daily basis, fellow Lab members who create their own businesses and spend their whole time working on it. Some people are more advanced, some at a lesser stage, but we all help each other, and I think that’s great.
