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Alumni Class of 2009 |
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| Welcome to this year’s Growing Business Young Guns – the current cream of the UK’s up-and-coming entrepreneurial crop. We may be hitting a downturn, but clearly someone forgot to tell this bunch, who are brimming with talent, innovation and commercial acumen – and they all have time on their side |
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Matt Waller, 31
Company: Benefex
Focus: Employee benefit schemes
Web: www.benefex.co.uk
Matt Waller started his business, which designs and runs employee benefit schemes, in 2006. Since then, every project the company has been involved with has been delivered on time and on budget, and Waller insists the firm has never lost a client. Customers range from the AA to Arcadia, spanning 25 countries and employing more than 750,000 people. Benefex has won a barrage of industry awards, around 30% of new business comes through referrals, and last year’s £1.5m turnover looks set to treble this year.
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Tom Marchant James Merrett and Matt Smith, all 30
Company: Black Tomato
Focus: Alternative travel packages
Web: www.blacktomato.co.uk
If you’re the kind of person whose idea of a perfect holiday is hunting anaconda in the Brazilian jungle, or going to the hippest bar in town that’s only just opened, then Black Tomato is the place to go. Tom Marchant, James Merrett and Matt Smith’s business creates bespoke holidays for travellers looking for the inside track on how to experience destinations as the locals do. In just four years it has grown from a back-room start-up into a £7m firm taking 1,000 bookings a month, poised for expansion in the US and scooping the coveted Observer/Guardian Best Travel Website accolade two years running. The business is about to launch its first ecommerce platform. |
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Andrew Long, 33
Company: Ten Lifestyle Management
Focus: Concierge services
Web: www.tenuk.com
In 1998, Andrew Long and Alex Cheatle founded the ultimate service business, doing anything that its clients don’t have the “time, expertise or inclination” to do themselves. Ten Lifestyle Management now manages 25,000 requests a month for more than 300,000 members – private and corporate – across its lifestyle, green and educational divisions. Long is group COO and founded G-Ten, the environmental arm, which has a remit to reduce carbon emissions in the capital through a partnership with the Greater London Authority. He was recently asked to chair The Prince’s Trust’s new Green Leadership Group. Ten Lifestyle Management’s £11.5m turnover is expected to double in 2010. |
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Andy McLoughlin and Alastair Mitchell, 30 & 32
Company: Huddle (Ninian Solutions)
Focus: Online workspaces and collaboration
Web: www.huddle.net
Andy McLoughlin and Alastair Mitchell’s online collaboration tool Huddle was dubbed the next Google by BusinessWeek magazine. Backed for $5m by investors including Eden Ventures, Huddle allows users to work together online, share files, manage projects and organise virtual meetings in a secure and hosted environment. Propelled by a number of key partnerships, including one with business network LinkedIn and another with video conferencing giant InterCall, this year’s turnover is projected at £4m, up from £1.5m in 2008. McLoughlin and Mitchell are now taking their business global, setting their sights initially on the US market, where expansion is currently underway. The founders also run networking event Drink Tank, where members of the London tech scene meet to share ideas over a pint. |
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Scott Fletcher, 35
Company: ANS Group
Focus: IT hardware, software and managed services
Web: www.ansgroup.co.uk
PLUS Chairman of the Year Scott Fletcher started ANS Group at age 17. The firm, which raised £1.5m on its flotation on PLUS in 2000, now comprises three other companies, including Smart Identity, an identity management software development firm founded by Fletcher, and two acquired businesses. ANS Group is a gold partner for Cisco and Microsoft with over 400 clients. The firm turned over £12.4m last year, making £1.3m profit. Fletcher, who also has personal investments in Godel Technologies and Viapost, says further acquisitions are likely over the coming year. |
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James Taylor, 27
Company: SportStars
Focus: Sports coaching for children
Web: www.sports-stars.co.uk
James Taylor started SportStars with £1,000, given to him by his parents on his 21st birthday. He quickly secured five contracts, and his business now works with 25,000 children each week in 100 schools, offering sports coaching to cover teachers’ planning, preparation and assessment time and also school holidays. The business turns over more than £1m, and Taylor is about to embark on a nationwide rollout of the model, before setting his sights on expanding overseas. Diversification into other development areas, such as drama and music, is also on the cards. |
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Matt Hagger, 30
Company: e-Man, Bizk.it, Zkatter
Focus: Digital marketing agency, enterprise applications, video broadcasting
Web: www.e-man.co.uk, www.bizk.it, www.zkatter.com
Matt Hagger is a compulsive entrepreneur. In 2001, he created Net Sorcerer, an application for real-time news updates that earned him a patent and £100,000 government funding. The concept was used to develop Sky Sports Alerts. Having
co-founded award-winning digital agency e-Man at 21, Hagger has consulted on desktop technology for Warner Music, and recently raised €1m for bizk.it, an enterprise application supported by Adobe and Sun Microsystems. He will soon launch Zkatter, a platform for live mobile video broadcasting, which he says is the most exciting project he’s worked on. |
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Angus Hewlett, 32
Company: FXpansion Audio UK
Focus: Music software development
Web: www.fxpansion.com
Faithless, The Cure and Deadmau5 are just a few of the musicians, recording artists, composers, producers and engineers using Angus Hewlett’s music software. His products are licensed by 30 companies across the globe, including Avid, Numark and Yamaha, as well as being used by a number of academic institutions and more than 500,000 individual users. FXpansion’s BFD 2.0 drum machine software sold 4,000 units during its first three months of release. Hewlett now has big plans to diversify his business into new product categories and new sectors. These include consumer entertainment and video games. |
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Jack Ostrowski, 33
Company: Yellow Octopus
Focus: Wholesale clothing
Web: www.yellow-octopus.com
Jack Ostrowski came to the UK as a Polish immigrant just three and a half years ago, and has since established a multimillion pound global business. The energetic entrepreneur has also run three marathons, done 117 parachute jumps and completed a Masters degree. After graduating with his MSc in International Enterprise, Ostrowski has now set his sights on Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Programme. His business, Yellow Octopus, exports outlet clothing from UK retailers and high-quality second-hand stock to 100 wholesalers and retailers in 16 countries. |
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Warren Bennett and David Hathiramani, 28
Company: ASuitThatFits.com
Focus: Hand-tailored suits at off-the-rack prices
Web: www.asuitthatfits.com
The business that started life as an online tailor in 2006 now has three permanent branches in London and 13 ‘tailor-stops’ across the UK, where customers can consult with a stylist and choose a suit that fits perfectly. Roving tailors also visit businesses, while customers ordering online are helped by measuring and style wizards, which offer 40 billion design combinations. Turnover is expected to hit £2.4m this year, as Warren Bennett and David Hathiramani continue their mission to become “Britain’s local tailor”. |
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Azhar Majid Saddique, 31
Company: UK Equipment Direct
Focus: Commercial catering and refrigeration equipment
Web: www.ukequipmentdirect.co.uk
Azhar Saddique began trading from his bedroom in 2007, after accepting a £2,500 redundancy package from Centrica. With no bank credit or external finance to speak of, the business turned over £1m in its first six months and has now supplied more than 10,000 organisations, including the NHS. UK Equipment Direct offers a complete one-stop service, covering design and installation, and Saddique has secured sole British distribution rights with several leading brands. He is preparing to launch his own range of energy efficient products next year, featuring the firm’s unique remote monitoring system. Revenue should hit £9m by financial year end 2011.
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Susanna Simpson, 31
Company: Limelight Public Relations
Focus: Corporate communications
Web: www.limelightpr.co.uk
Public relations is a highly competitive industry, which unfortunately is frequently viewed as more of a hindrance than a help.
However, in Limelight PR, founder Susanna Simpson has created an agency that is consistently described, refreshingly, as a joy to work with. Limelight’s range of work covers both business-to-business
and consumer campaigns. Examples of the projects the agency has been involved with include PR consultancy for Saatchi & Saatchi (both in the UK and the Middle East), positioning the Erotica Show towards a mainstream audience and acquisition support on multimillion pound deals. Simpson was chosen as PR Week magazine’s Young PR Professional of the Year within a year of starting the business, at the age of 24. Limelight looks set to turn over £1.2m this year. |
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Simon Duffy and Rhodri Ferrier, 32 & 30
Company: Bulldog Natural Grooming
Focus: Natural skincare for men
Web: www.meetthebulldog.com
Simon Duffy and Rhodri Ferrier raised £1.2m in angel investment to launch Bulldog in 2007, and in doing so created a market for natural and ethically sourced male grooming products. The range, which Duffy and Ferrier proudly proclaim has been created for men, by men, rather than “your girlfriend’s brand rebadged”, has proved to be highly popular, with Bulldog products flying off the shelves since launch. In fact, take up has been so strong that the business is projecting a turnover of £2m this year. The range of male grooming products can now be found in a number of major retail outlets, including Waitrose, Tesco, Superdrug and Boots, among others, following the expiration of a 12-month exclusivity deal with Sainsbury’s. |
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Ali Clabburn, 34
Company: liftshare
Focus: Car sharing schemes
Web: www.liftshare.com
Ali Clabburn’s social enterprise liftshare gives businesses the online journey matching tools to set up their own car sharing schemes, then helps firms to manage and market them. The idea has attracted interest from some major organisations, and liftshare can now count giants BT, Sony and Tesco among its clients.
Clabburn has received many plaudits for his leadership in raising awareness of the benefits of car sharing. He’s also been widely praised for his business’ environmental impact and its use of technology, which last year secured liftshare the Queen’s Award for Innovation. The company’s 350,000-strong network saves 45,000 car trips every day, and is currently attracting 300 new members on a daily basis. |
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Sokratis Papafloratos, 30
Company: Trusted Places
Focus: Social network for local reviews
Web: www.trustedplaces.com
Trusted Places, which is backed by Howzat Media to the tune of £1m, initially provided user-generated reviews for restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs. However, steady growth has seen the company, co-founded in 2006 by Sokratis Papafloratos, add ratings of everything from sport and leisure clubs to shops and hotels. Throughout the past 12 months, membership has grown by 85%, reviews by 238%. Meanwhile, turnover will more than double during 2010 as the website reaps the rewards of a diverse revenue model, which includes white label partnerships with the likes of DMGT and Associated Northcliffe Digital, along with premium subscriptions, traditional advertising and affiliate bookings. |
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Graham Bosher, 27
Company: Graze
Focus: Healthy snacks ordered by post
Web: www.graze.com
Graham Bosher, one of the founders of successful movie rental business Lovefilm, is living proof that adapting an existing business model can prove to be as good as inventing a new one. Rather than sending out movies by post, Graze, which was established by Bosher in 2007, offers a service that delivers healthy snacks. It now sends out 80,000 letterbox-sized boxes of fruits, nuts and dried berries a month, charging £2.99 a go – less than the delivery charge of most online supermarkets. Turnover this year is an impressive £2.5m, while a recent £2m investment from Octopus Ventures and DFJ Esprit suggests that the company could scale just as well as its older sibling. |
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Will Saville and Richard Paterson, 33
Company: BrightStarr
Focus: IT services
Web: www.brightstarr.com
IT services firm BrightStarr specialises in providing project collaboration tools for large organisations, with current clients including Pepsi, Mulberry and the NHS. Founded by Will Saville and Richard Paterson in 2006, the firm is projecting a turnover of £1.5m this year, with the company’s revenues for the first six months of 2009 topping last year’s overall total. Meanwhile, pre-tax profits are expected to be around £500,000.
BrightStarr has recently started campaigning in the US, and has just closed its first deal with a Fortune 500 company. What’s more, its growing relationship with Microsoft means it sees new products before most companies, which is helping it get ahead in the marketplace and attract the best talent. These strategies should allow BrightStarr to achieve continued growth in the UK and beyond. |
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Priya Lakhani, 28
Company: Masala Masala
Focus: Fresh Indian sauces
Web: www.masalamasala.co.uk
Former libel lawyer Priya Lakhani gave up a promising law career to launch fresh Indian cooking sauces, which use only fresh, authentic ingredients to make a supermarket range which she proudly claims tastes “as good as [her] mother’s”.
Only launched last year, Masala Masala’s sauces are already being stocked by major retailers Waitrose, Ocado, Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Budgens, which will help the business, funded by Lakhani’s savings, to be profitable from this Autumn. New product launches are in the pipeline, and Lakhani has proved that even start-ups can afford hefty corporate social responsibility strategies – an underprivileged person in India is given a hot meal for every pot of Masala Masala sold. |
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Alexandra Burns, 35
Company: For Your Eyes Only Portraits
Focus: Photographic studio
Web: www.fyeoportraits.com
A photographic studio that offers makeover portraits might sound like the epitome of a lifestyle business, but Alexandra Burns’ For Your Eyes Only Portraits is growing quickly, and is on target to turn over £1.2m this year. Burns, a former freelance photographer, was inspired by a vision to give real women access to glamorous ‘boudoir style’ portraits, with celebrity style treatment, in the security of a female-based studio. Her marketing nous has helped attract coverage from BBC One, Reuters and Radio 4, while plans to franchise the self-funded business look set to take the concept nationwide. |
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Nirmal Chhabria, 27
Company: Niva International
Focus: Metal exporting
Web: nivaglobalservices.com
MBA graduate Nirmal Chhabria founded Niva International in 2005. The company scraps high-quality waste metal and exports it to China, India and parts of Southern Asia, and has achieved 200% growth in every trading year to date. He also advises eight other companies in the recycling industry. Turnover is £1.4m, and the Cardiff-based company now has offices in India, Singapore and the USA. Mumbai-born Chhabria recently founded Niva Global Services, which helps Indian students access higher education in the UK, assisting with everything from finding the right course to admissions, accommodation and travel. |
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Kieran O’Neill, 21
Company: Playfire
Focus: Social network for gamers
Web: Playfire.com
Founding a social network for gamers and guiding it through seed round backing of $1m (from the likes of Bebo founder Michael Birch and former Sony chairman Chris Deering) would be considered precocious for most 21-year-olds. Playfire, however, is O’Neill’s third business. Having already sold holylemon.com, the video sharing site he built at the age of 15, for $1.25m, he then co-founded PSU.com, the largest PlayStation community in the world, before setting up his latest venture with Ben Phillips and Seb Hayes. While Playfire, which already has 120,000 members, is still ‘pre-revenue’, O’Neill says lead generation of game sales and targeted advertising will generate millions in revenue in the next few years. |
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Fraser Doherty, 20
Company: SuperJam
Focus: 100% pure fruit jams
Web: www.superjam.co.uk
Fraser Doherty, last year’s ‘One for 2009’, graduated to the full Young Guns list after his pure fruit jam brand SuperJam significantly increased sales across stockists, which include all of the major supermarkets. The company was founded when a 14-year-old Doherty spotted the untapped potential of his gran’s jam recipes. After successful trials at farmers’ markets, he became the youngest stockist to a major supermarket when he signed a deal to supply Waitrose in 2007. The socially minded Doherty has also run more than 120 SuperJam Tea Parties for housebound elderly people, seen his products picked as an ‘iconic Scottish food brand’ by the National Museum of Scotland, and given away a free jar to every reader of The Sun newspaper. International expansion and new products are next on the 20-year-old’s list.
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Crispin Moger, 34
Company: Young Marmalade
Focus: Car purchase and insurance for young drivers
Web: www.youngmarmalade.co.uk
The confusingly named Young Marmalade is not a rival to Fraser Doherty’s SuperJam, but rather an ingeniously simple business which combines car purchase with low-cost vehicle insurance, getting new drivers behind the wheel of safer cars quickly and cost-effectively. Users choose a new or used car on the website, apply for finance, pay a deposit and choose a colour. They then sign the finance papers and a fully insured car is delivered to them. As BBC Top Gear’s Richard Hammond said: “crazy name, clever idea.” Founded by Crispin Moger in 2005, revenues now exceed £3m, and the company is on target to become profitable for the first time this year. |
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Imran Hakim, 31
Company: iTeddy
Focus: Media playing toy
Web: www.iteddy.com
After successfully securing a £140,000 investment from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis during his assured appearance on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, Bolton-based entrepreneur Imran Hakim has seen demand explode for iTeddy, the product he developed. Essentially the innovative combination of a cuddly bear and a media player, iTeddy has since performed impressively in UK stores. This resulted in the award of a global distribution deal with Britain’s largest independent toy company, Vivid Imaginations, at the end of 2007. iTeddy is now available in 45 countries across the globe, and is delivering revenues of £12m. Meanwhile, Hakim, who has won countless business and industry awards, also owns a variety of other companies, including a chain of optometrists in the North West. |
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Christian Arno, 30
Company: Lingo24
Focus: Web-focused translation and localisation services
Web: www.lingo24.com
Edinburgh-based translation services company Lingo24 has managed to secure clients in more than 60 countries worldwide, covering every business sector, including giants MTV, BBC, Orange and Burger King. Not bad for a company that 30-year-old Christian Arno set up from the spare room in his parents’ house in 2001. The business, which is anticipating a £5m turnover this year, now has more than 100 full-time employees, along with a pool of 4,000 freelance translators. Arno, who has retained an 85% stake in the company, says that Lingo24’s ability to offer additional, often technology-related services helps to set it apart from the competition. |
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James Watt and Martin Dickie, both 26
Company: BrewDog
Focus: Beer
Web: www.brewdog.com
Bored of the industrially brewed lagers and stuffy ales that dominate the UK beer market, Brewdog founders James Watt and Martin Dickie, both 26, decided to brew their own “classic beers with a contemporary twist”. The firm is now Scotland’s largest independent brewery, and its numerous brands are listed in Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Oddbins, as well as being available in 15 countries outside the UK. Revenues will be £1.6m this year, and the firm has plans to construct a new £3-4m brewery, which is expected to increase turnover to £15m from 2011. |
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Oli Norman, 31
Company: DADA
Focus: Marketing
Web: dada.co.uk, itison.com
Set up in 2003, self-funded and profitable in its first few months, Glasgow-based DADA is a marketing agency with a difference. It enters joint ventures with its clients, which include Hilton and the BBC, often approaching them with unusual concepts. One such idea became an award-winning festival on the Glasgow subway network, for which DADA holds the merchandising rights. Its four divisions – events, PR, design and ventures – will turn over £4.2m this year. Founder Oli Norman also owns Sloans, Glasgow’s oldest bar and restaurant, and itison, a unique service targeting the exact consumer to a brand, product or event. |
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Jimmy Metta, 29
Company: Vanquish Wine
Focus: Wine distribution
Web: www.vanquishwine.com
Vanquish Wine was born in 2005, when former analyst Jimmy Metta found himself clearing a relative’s wine cellar. He decided to sell the collection of Bordeaux vintages that he discovered. These days, Metta regularly attends auction houses to buy fine wines with old friend and Vanquish co-founder David Elghanayan. Together, they now boast the largest collection of Cristal Champagne in the UK, while their Soho-based business supplies every major nightclub in London. A diversification into wine for high-net-worth buyers, along with the bulk import and export of drinks, has protected the business from the downturn, and this year’s turnover for Vanquish is expected to hit £8m.
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Peter Leiman and Cameron Ogden, 30 & 31
Company: Blink
Focus: Air taxi service
Web: www.flyblink.com
Launching ‘Europe’s first air taxi service’ in the midst of a catastrophic downturn for aviation might sound counter intuitive. However, Blink’s promise of the speed, efficiency and comfort of a personal jet at a price that compares with business class was compelling enough to help founders Peter Leiman and Cameron Ogden raise $30m of equity funding
in 2007. They hope the cost-effective, four-passenger light aircrafts that they’ve purchased, at around £1.5m each, will make the firm the easyJet of business travel. Blink’s seven aircraft currently fly to more than 600 airports in Western Europe, carrying 100-150 people a month. The firm plans to add three to six more planes in 2010. |
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...and one for 2010:
Julie Diem Le, 32
Company: ZooBug
Focus: Children’s eyewear
Web: www.zoobug.co.uk
Founded by former eye surgeon Dr Julie Diem Le, ZooBug produces sunglasses and optical frames aimed at children aged three to 15, with 100% UV protection. The stylish and sturdy design of ZooBug’s products has helped secure distribution in more than 21 countries worldwide, with stockists including Harrods and Selfridges.
The range can also be found in UK airports and leading opticians, and is even sold through airline Virgin Atlantic. Newspaper coverage has helped Diem Le’s cause, pushing turnover this year up to £800,000. Expansion into travel retail is now on the cards. |
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