A FORMER Malvern St James School student has been awarded for her ‘creativee entrepreneurism and leadership’ in recognition of setting up buddi, a ‘peace of mind’ service which allows the vulnerable or elderly to live independently for longer.

Sara Murray, now aged 40 and living in London, was presented with the industry award from the British Institute of Technology and E-commerce and the All Party Parliamentary Group of Entrepreneurship.

It recognised her work in founding buddi, which is now used by more than 200 local authorities across the UK, including Worcestershire County Council, as well as founding inspop.com, an online insurance marketplace, which was later sold and renamed confused.com.

Ms Murray said: “I am particularly honoured to be the first woman and small-to-medium enterprise to receive this award.”

She developed buddi after her daughter Rowena went temporarily missing in a supermarket.

The size of a matchbox, buddi uses GPS technology to calculate its location and offers 24/7 emergency support to the buddi user and their carers or family.

Ms Murray was presented with the award at the House of Lords by Lord Ahmed, chairman of APPGE.