Two award-winning female entrepreneurs from Liverpool City Region have revealed how their acclaimed innovation project is gathering great momentum in the North West.
The Animates aims to inspire young people into amazing futures, exploring skills and industries via creativity and learning.
Devised by Alex Cousins and Natalie Reeves Billing, the project has already been nominated for an award as part of the Mersey Maritime Awards 2026, in the Positive Impact Award category which Natalie believes will help the company roll out their children’s learning programme to a broader audience.
“We have created a beautiful project that excites young kids about the skills, careers, and innovations in their local areas, inspiring them to look forward to the future.
“We have worked with many regional and national businesses, educationalists and civic leaders to make this as impactful as possible, and we want to keep doing this, exploring all that our wonderful region of Merseyside has to offer! It’s about making our kids proud of their heritage and the ingenuity of its people.”
Natalie also revealed that the final draft of their eagerly awaited book The River of Life is ready for print and publication. with a donation being made to local charity The Danny from the proceeds. The book will be officially launched in Liverpool in February 2026.
“It feels really good to have completed the book plus our website https://www.theanimates.co.uk is now live and evolving. As we continue to develop content for children, teachers, and parents, we can now display latest lesson plans, created collaboratively by Elevate Education Business Partnership and Liverpool Learning Partnership.
“These resources help teachers integrate The River of Life into the curriculum, alongside a selection of activity sheets for children.”
Additional resources include BAM BAM, The Animates’ multilingual AI Agent, who is currently in training and available both on the website and through the brilliance of creators Sum Vivas and Sum Vivas Chat.
Natalie continued: “He’s designed to be engaging and helpful—ask him anything! Over the coming months, we will be enriching BAM BAM’s knowledge base with facts about our books, the industries, and organisations featured in our stories. He can even assist with children’s homework. The more he’s used, the wiser he becomes—just like us!
“On a personal note, I’ve enjoyed getting BAM BAM to say happy birthday to family members and recording his messages. We’ll be monitoring which questions challenge him most and will use this data to enhance his abilities. This information will also be invaluable for educationalists and policy makers seeking insight into the conversations BAM BAM is having.”
Natalie also highlighted that The Animates Adventure Hub, a dedicated space on the website for children. is actively seeking game creators to develop both physical games for workshops and digital games for the website, with the aim of giving every Animate their own unique game. “We’re exploring opportunities for graduate interns and freelancers to assist us with this project too.”
Impressively, more than 180 children as part of The Animates project have participated in Learning in Liverpool workshops to date with overwhelmingly positive feedback. The sessions, led by Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool) as part of their #KQFuturesprogramme, are designed to foster inclusivity and innovation across primary schools to sixth form.
Natalie concluded: “The next Animates book will focus on the construction and regeneration industry, in partnership with Sara Lawton from Rise Construction Framework. We’re seeking 8-10 sponsors to share their stories and help fund the next set of lesson plans, games, books, and workshops.
We’re also considering showcasing at UKREiiF in May 2026, providing an excellent opportunity for the industry to engage with children early.” 
