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A new app created by ̨ÍåÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ Leicester (DMU) graduate Steph Mandeville is motivating people to discover, track and complete all their personal challenges.

The app, , was named as one of BBC Dragon Theo Paphitis’ winners, just two weeks after its launch.

The Marketing Management graduate said: “We host a huge range of challenges - everything from 30-day health and fitness challenges to study calendars, reading lists and even fundraising challenges.”

Steph created Challenge Accepted during the first UK lockdown with co-founder Paul Johnson.  It launched in July 2020and has just hit the milestone of 1,000 downloads.

She said: “People are struggling to find things to do or even the motivation to go outside. During lockdown it can encourage them to do fitness challenges or just keep them entertained while in this stressful situation.”

The social aspect of the app is also designed to help people stay connected to their friends in different and more active ways, overcoming the growing wave of ‘Zoom fatigue’.

“People can complete challenges together and add collaborators and friends. If a friend is doing the same challenge as you, you can see how they’re getting on. With the film, TV and book challenges you can also add notes and star ratings, so you can check your friends’ profiles to see what they think about it,” she said.

On being named a winner of Small Business Sunday, Steph said: “It was quite a boost in terms of confidence, but also awareness, because Theo Paphitis retweeted it to his 490,000+ followers and we are now part of his network of small businesses.”

In the future, Steph hopes to work with more charities to support fundraising campaigns. They have already hosted challenges on the app from Stand Up To Cancer, Shine Cancer Support and RED January.

Steph said: “One of the most popular challenges we’ve had  is RED January, because it’s about people doing something active every day to look after their mental health – going for a run, walking, yoga, or even cleaning the house!

“One of the benefits of using Challenge Accepted is that it’s designed to help you stay motivated in a fun and flexible way - with whatever goal you’re working on. It’s about setting manageable goals with the flexibility to skip days or restart if you need to.”

Steph graduated from DMU in 2014 with a First-Class degree in Marketing Management, IDM Certificate in Digital Marketing, and the CIM award for the best marketing project, in which she explored gamification in marketing. Her placement year at Intel helped her land her first graduate job at EE.

She said: “My degree helped me shape my entire career for the last eight years. The digital marketing modules were spot on and the tutors had real experience across both agency and brand sides, which really helped to bring everything to life.

“One of the best things was getting work experience. My tutors were really helpful with finding a placement, offering one-to-one interview practice and advice. I was also a DMU Frontrunner working for the Chamber of Commerce Business Builder program, helping Leicester businesses with funding and start-up advice. It was an excellent placement.

“I wouldn’t have found that kind of quality work experience without DMU, and without that and the placement year I don’t think I would have gone straight into a brand as big as EE.”