December 2015
2
AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Business Reporter
THE ESSENTIALS
Publisher Bradley Scheffer | Editor Daniel Evans | Production editor Dan Geary
Paul
Barry-Walsh
Jim
Duffy
Kelly
Hoppen
Luke
Johnson
Jamie
Oliver
Paul is the founder and CEO of
Safetynet, which grew into one
of the UK’s leading providers
of business continuity services.
He launched the Fredericks
Foundation in 2001, which has
become a significant microfinance
organisation, with the aim of
helping the disadvantaged
become self-employed. It has
so far funded more than 600
businesses.
Jim, who is based in Glasgow,
developed the model for
Entrepreneurial Spark (or ESpark
as it generally known) in 2012,
creating a start-up renaissance
initially in Scotland but which is now
spreading with hubs across the UK.
ESpark has supported 350 firms
with a combined turnover of
£41million last year.
Kelly is an interior designer,
author and proprietor of Kelly
Hoppen Interiors. From 2013 to
2015, she appeared on BBC Two’s
Dragons’ Den. Keen to champion
and nurture younger and older
British entrepreneurs, Kelly is an
ambassador for the Prince’s Trust
and the Prince’s Initiative for Mature
Enterprise.
Luke is best known for his
involvement with Pizza Express.
He is also part-owner and chairman
of Patisserie Valerie, Gail’s Artisan
Bakery and Feng Sushi. A former
chairman of Channel 4, in 2012
Luke was appointed chair of Startup
Britain, the national campaign to
stimulate start-up growth in the UK.
In 2013, he launched the Centre for
Entrepreneurs.
Jamie is well known as a chef,
restaurateur and media personality,
as well as for his books and
television shows. In 2002, he
created the Jamie Oliver Food
Foundation, which runs the Fifteen
Apprentice Programme. The
programme recruits apprentices
and trains them to become
professional chefs, targetting the
young unemployed who have fallen
out of mainstream education.
Entrepreneurship
award: the
shortlist revealed
Timothy Barnes, Director of UCL Advances, announces the seven
nominees for the first UCL/Business Reporter Medal for Entrepreneurship
Emma
Sinclair
Emma co-founded Mission
Capital in 2004 and then took the
company public, becoming the
youngest person in the UK to float
a company, having done so at 29.
She also founded and then sold
Target Parking. In 2014, Emma
was appointed UNICEF’s first
business mentor. Her role is as
mentor to Building Young Futures,
a partnership between UNICEF and
Barclays.
UCL AND BUSINESS REPORTER are proud to launch the
UCL Medal for Entrepreneurship to recognise an
entrepreneur who has made a real difference by using their
business skills to give back to society.
Encouraging entrepreneurship is important at UCL
(University College London). We run one of the largest
centres for entrepreneurship at any university in the
world, supporting student start-ups as well as small and
medium-sized businesses. We help anyone who wants to
learn about, start or grow a business. Our activities build
on a history of entrepreneurial alumni that includes
the founders of PwC, Giraffe restaurants and polling
firm YouGov.
Our graduates have set up many new firms – recent
success stories include coffee waste recycling company
bio-bean (www.bio-bean.com), which employs 20 people
and has a production plant in Cambridgeshire. Like other
student businesses, bio-bean received support from UCL
Advances (www.ucl.ac.uk/advances), the centre for
entrepreneurship at UCL. UCL’s excellent research output
gives us a phenomenal base of know-how that we can draw
on when seeking new business ideas or expertise to help
existing ventures.
We recently asked Business Reporter readers to nominate
entrepreneurs who have used their skills to provide
opportunity for others. We are looking for someone who
meets three main criteria:
• C andidates need to have founded and sustained
a successful business.
• T hey must show that they have “given back” by
applying their entrepreneurial skills for the benefit of
others – more than simply writing a cheque.
• They need to be active in the UK. They do not need to be
British but their business and “giving back” activities
should be here.
After careful consideration of the entries, we came up
with our shortlist of nominees. We will now hold a judging
panel, and the winner will be announced in 2016.
John
Timpson
John joined his family’s firm
Timpson, best known for shoe
repairs and key cutting, in the 1960s.
In 1983 he led a management
buyout and headed the firm’s later
expansion. The firm runs one of
the most established schemes for
helping ex-offenders find work.
It has been running for about 12
years and the company has 400
ex-offenders working at all levels
of the business, including ten shop
managers.