The founder of Loujo, an educational platform tailored for dyslexic children across the UK, has been named the winner of this year’s Elevate competition.

Alex Molokwu was handed the prestigious title after successfully pitching to a panel of judges alongside three other finalists, in front of a packed conference hall at Naidex last month.

Elevate – The Disabled Founders Pitch, is a competition launched by Naidex in partnership with Lloyds to support disabled entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses.

Winning comes with a £5,000 grant from Lloyds, 12 months of mentorship from a senior Lloyds representative and an exhibition stand at Naidex.

Commenting on receiving the 2026 award, Alex said: “I’m so grateful to have won the Elevate competition. It came as a complete surprise.

“The award comes at a pivotal point in Loujo’s growth – it means we’ll be able to exhibit at more events, such as Naidex, and tell more people about what we do.”

Loujo is an educational service that creates personalised educational songs to help children with dyslexia learn, understand, and retain academic information in a fun and highly effective way.

It helps transform challenging school topics into engaging, memorable music.

“Over the next year, we will sync animation and visuals with our memorable songs to further increase retention,” Alex added. “We’re also looking to raised £300,000 as part of our bigger picture so we can grow our team, improve our features and capture more of the market.”

Tom Berry, Head of Origination, Markets – Commercial Banking Coverage, Lloyds Banking Group, said the judging panel was unanimous in selecting Alex as the winner of Elevate 2026.

 “In strong field, Alex stood out for the clarity of his delivery, a well‑articulated plan for how the funding would be used, and the significant wider societal impact Loujo has the potential to deliver at scale.”

This year’s Elevate competition received over 100 submissions. Of these, 10 businesses were selected to pitch in person at Birmingham Colmore Row, for four places in the final.

Along with Alex, the finalists included Daniela Groza and Declan McLaughlin, co-founders of Auzi, a London-based brand creating jewellery covers for hearing aids and cochlear implants; Yiska Ansell, disabled artist and performer who founded Noteworthy Access, a consultancy focused on enhancing accessibility the arts and culture sector; and Ilinca Georgescu, founder of Trem, a company focused on developing solutions for people with Essential Tremors (ET).

Ilinca was named this year’s runner-up and will receive a £2,500 grant and 12 months of mentorship from a senior Lloyds representative.