This year’s most exceptional London & East of England business leaders have been named at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2022 Grand Final. The programme, in partnership with Starling Bank, has recognised the UK’s most inspiring entrepreneurial success stories for a decade and developed a community-oriented network of alumni which grows year on year.
The ceremony was held at Grosvenor House in London at the end of last year and saw 1,400 entrepreneurs and colleagues join together to celebrate a collective £2bn generated in turnover and over 17,000 jobs.
Twelve London & East of England entrepreneurs went home with prizes in categories from Health & Beauty and Sustainability to Family Business and the overall Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which was won by Jordan Brompton.
Over the past ten years, there have been a number of big names to receive accolades, including Alan and Juliet Barratt of Grenade, Shaun Pulfrey of Tangle Teezer and Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett. Many previous winners have gone on to sit on the expert judging panel for the 2022 programme.
The tenth anniversary awards also included a new category – the John Caudwell Blaze Your Own Trail Award – recognising organisations and individuals providing non-traditional routes into employment through apprenticeships, on-the-job training and work experience placements. The award was added as part of a new partnership between the programme and the Phones4U founder’s charity Caudwell Children.
Great British Entrepreneur Awards founder Francesca James said that the awards’ tenth anniversary event was the biggest and best yet:
“Celebrating Britain’s ambitious, driven and inspirational entrepreneurs for a decade has been an honour, and we’ve learnt so much from hearing all of their unique stories and perspectives.
“The extraordinary circumstances of the last few years have tested the resilience of our business communities, and the challenges were enough to give many entrepreneurs an excuse to give up. Instead, our award winners did the opposite and, through ingenuity, innovation and the ability to adapt, they thrived.
“These challenges certainly haven’t gone away, and the next few years will present new obstacles – but one only needed to look around the room to see some of the truly special founders and doers, to gain confidence that this snapshot of the economy can go on and adapt again.
“We’d like to congratulate all of our 2022 winners for all of their hard work and achievements. – we look forward to following your lead into 2023 and beyond.”
Anne Boden MBE, Founder of Starling Bank, said:
“Entrepreneurs up and down the country across so many different industries have shown just how innovative and resilient they have been. The awards are a celebration of their success – congratulations to all winners.”
London & the East of England Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2022 winners
Creative Entrepreneur of the Year in partnership with TikTok Business
Jonny Caplan, Tech Talk Media
Disruptor of the Year in partnership with Vodafone Business
Sam Jones, Gener8
Entrepreneur for Good Award
Chris Forbes & Julie Chen, The Cheeky Panda Ltd
Family Business Entrepreneur of the Year
Lizzie Carter & Hugo Lewis, Only Curls
Food & Drink Entrepreneur of the Year
Mario Aleppo, FireAway
Health & Beauty Entrepreneur of the Year
Tim Binnington, Manta Hair
Scale-Up Entrepreneur of the Year in partnership with Salesforce
Rutger Bruining, StoryTerrace
Service Industries Entrepreneur of the Year
William Fuller & Ben James, Orbis Exchange Group Ltd
Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year in partnership with Aston Lark
Charlotte Pearce, Inkpact
Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year in partnership with Mail Metro Media
Christian Facey & Wilfrid Obeng, AudioMob
Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year in partnership with The AA
Rubina Raut, WUKA Ltd
Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Ailis Topley, Pott Candles
The John Caudwell Blaze Your Own Trial Award
Rhotic Media
Great British Entrepreneur of the Year
Jordan Brompton, myenergi Ltd
Find out more at www.greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com