Affixxius Productions

Affixxius Productions was started in 2003 by two sixteen year olds, Tim Cabrelli and Miles Latham (pictured left to right) in a spare bedroom. The pair used the emergence of digital technology to produce engaging and alternative corporate videos. They continued running the business whilst studying at school and university. Tim eventually left university to develop the company full time, whilst Miles finished his degree at Oxford University. The company officially launched in 2006 and Affixxius Productions has now grown into an in-house agency which boasts an impressive client base including, Balfour Beatty, Caterpillar, Hewden, Finning, Mark Group and Saint-Gobain.
www.affixxius.com

ANY JUNK?

Fed up with being an investment banker and working for someone else, Jason Mohr (pictured) wanted to create something to be proud of and that would make a difference to people’s lives. He also wanted to spend more time with his family and be in control of his working life.

With this in mind he set out to solve the problem of people having more junk but less time to deal with it, whilst still wanting to care about the environment. So in 2004 he set up ANYJUNK? By combining branding systems and technology ANY JUNK? have brought one of the world’s oldest trades, rubbish clearance, into the 21st century by making the whole process simple, professional and environmentally responsible. It was started with one white board, one truck, a mobile phone and a PC. The company has now become the UK’s largest provider of on-demand rubbish clearance and recycling for homes and businesses.
www.anyjunk.co.uk

ASuitThatFits.com

A Suit That Fits co-founders Warren Bennett and David Hathiramani (pictured right to left) had no tailoring experience, simply a passion for suits, and a confidence that they could use their engineering and software backgrounds to simplify and improve tailoring. They first trialled the idea at Hampstead Market, selling their first suit within 20 minutes of opening. Realising it was a viable business idea they rented out office space in the heart of London and worked through the night to create their website.

A Suit That Fits is the world's first online, hand-tailored suit-making company and with over 40 billion possible style, fabric and colour combinations it offers the largest range of quality suits in the UK. Using unique web technology, the service gives customers the flexibility to design and completely customise their individually hand-tailored suit at an affordable 'off-the-peg' price, starting at £150.

The suits are made in Nepal and Warren and David firmly believe in contributing to the Nepalese community they work with. They pay more than 50% over the local rate for manufacture, which ensures that the quality demands of their customers are met and that the 70 plus tailors in Nepal enjoy working with them. On top of wages, 5% of the cost of each suit is donated to the Nepalese school that introduced Warren to tailoring.

BEcause - Female Entrepreneur of the Year

Sharon Richey (pictured) set up BEcause in 2003, an agency that specialises in experiential marketing, creating face-to-face brand experiences so consumers can interact with brands in memorable ways. Award-winning campaigns such 'Sleep Like a Baby' for Pampers included the creation of 'The Pampers Sleeper' (a walk-through toy train enabling parents to experience the world from a baby's perspective). Sharon created BEcause to respond to the change in consumer marketing as she recognised consumers were looking for brands that spoke to them at a more personal level. Brands need to capture people's attention at an individual level and engage them in a memorable ways at relevant times and places. Part of the success of BEcause can be put down to the remote reporting system they use which allows greater flexibility, control and transparency and reduces administration. In the space of 5 years, the company has grown into a pioneering force, employing 50 people and turning over £9.2 milllion.

Black Circles - Winner of Most Outstanding Entrepreneur

With a background in retail management and sales, Jeff Gunn (pictured) and Neil Hames set up Bright Ideas Global Ltd. in 2006 and developed the ecobutton - a unique power saving device for computers.

The ecobutton sits on your desktop and connects to your computer via a USB cable. Each time you are going to leave your computer running idle for any reason, such as taking a break, a phone call, attending a meeting, you simply press the ecobutton and your computer is put into ‘ecomode’ - an economical energy saving sleep mode. This will typically ensure that both your computer and monitor draw only the same nominal power as when they are shut down - with the added benefit of instant re-activation to where you left off.

In this world of green ideology and being more aware of our impact on the planet, Jeff and Neil wanted to develop a unique product that could be used on almost every personal computer worldwide to save both electricity and cost. The ecobutton also reduces an individuals' carbon footprint and even records how many carbon units, power and money is saved. It has already won a number of awards for both its green credentials and innovation and is now available from many online and high street retail outlets.

Bright Ideas Global

With a background in retail management and sales, Jeff Gunn (pictured) and Neil Hames set up Bright Ideas Global Ltd. in 2006 and developed the ecobutton - a unique power saving device for computers.

The ecobutton sits on your desktop and connects to your computer via a USB cable. Each time you are going to leave your computer running idle for any reason, such as taking a break, a phone call, attending a meeting, you simply press the ecobutton and your computer is put into ‘ecomode’ - an economical energy saving sleep mode. This will typically ensure that both your computer and monitor draw only the same nominal power as when they are shut down - with the added benefit of instant re-activation to where you left off. In this world of green ideology and being more aware of our impact on the planet, Jeff and Neil wanted to develop a unique product that could be used on almost every personal computer worldwide to save both electricity and cost. The ecobutton also reduces an individuals' carbon footprint and even records how many carbon units, power and money is saved. It has already won a number of awards for both its green credentials and innovation and is now available from many online and high street retail outlets.

Holiday Nanny

Through personal experience former investment banker Nicola Grant (pictured) recognised there was a gap in the market to provide families with a qualified and vetted nanny for their holiday. Holiday Nanny was developed in 2007 and is the only nanny agency in the UK that specialises in providing qualified nannies to accompany families on holiday. The company has grown enormously and in their first year alone have completed over 280 weeks of assignments, worked with 140 different families and travelled throughout the world. They now work with many top family holiday companies such as Elegant Resorts, Cadogan Holidays, Kuoni and Tots to France.

Starting Holiday Nanny not only prompted a change in career for Nicola but also a change in lifestyle for her whole family, moving from London to the countryside. As a part time working mother, Nicola sought to set up her company by actively supporting other part-time working mothers to provide the graphic design for the website, take photos, produce advertisements and logos.

Liftshare - Male Entrepreneur of the Year

Liftshare had small beginnings as a university notice board, set up ten years ago by a student who just wanted to get home for the holidays. The idea took time to catch on, but today Ali Clabburn’s (pictured) passionate belief in the benefits of car-sharing has made Liftshare the largest car-sharing network in the country, with over 300,000 individual members. It is a social enterprise that helps individuals to travel more sustainably by sharing their journey. The online network matches people making similar journeys so they can travel together. It is completely free to use and can also be used to find someone to share a taxi, bike or walking journey with.

Through over 1,000 schemes for councils, businesses, hospitals and community groups across the UK - including Tesco, the Environment Agency and 85% of local authorities Liftshare currently saves around 70 million car miles and reduces CO2 emissions by over 20,000 tonnes per year, as well as bringing communities together. Everyday around 40,000 fewer car trips are made, because of Liftshare. Five years ago car-sharing was never talked about as part of transport policy; today it forms a vital part of most successful travel plans.

MOOFU Education

MOOFU founder Nick Palfrey struggled at school due to learning difficulties, however, this provided the inspiration for his business. At just 21, Nick put his entrepreneurial talent to use and started MOOFU Education in April 2007 from his parent’s kitchen. The business began by producing bespoke films for schools and running video production workshops for students. Early indications were that this was successful, but Nick realised that the gap in the market was bigger and there was greater potential to impact on teaching and learning.

MOOFU’s vision is to make the best use of new technology to deliver learning in contemporary ways. The company has developed a successful range of products and services, with input from teachers and students, that present innovative ways to harness technology to make learning exciting and effective (through interactive games, YouTube, cameras, Microsoft software,etc).

NetMums

Three mums, Siobhan Freegard (pictured), Sally Russell and Cathy Court, came together in 2002 to create Netmums, a free online localised community for parents and families. The site currently has half a million members and over 1 million visits a month. Over 4,000 real life friendships are formed each month through the site's meet-a-mum section. The Netmums brand is becoming more established with 5 published parenting books, as well as being referred to as the voice of mums in the media with regular appearances on GMTV and BBC Breakfast.

NotOnTheHighStreet.com

Holly Tucker (pictured right) and Sophie Cornish (pictured left) met when they worked in advertising 12 years ago. They recognised a fundamental marketing and distribution problem faced by small creative businesses in the UK when trying to reach a large customer base and in 2005 (with a three month old baby and two young children between them) Holly and Sophie ploughed in all their savings, took out a bank loan, worked unpaid for a year and survived on very little sleep to set up notonthehighstreet.com. They launched on 3 April 2006 and overnight united hundreds of small businesses by creating a leading online contemporary marketplace for the UK’s best small lifestyle businesses, selling beautifully-made products ranging from jewellery to babywear to home accessories.

Notonthehightstreet.com now brings over 800 independent small UK businesses together to sell over 20,000 products through one checkout. The products are targeted at shoppers looking for style, originality and quality.

Original Travel

Although he started his career in the City as a corporate financier, Nick Newbury (pictured) always wanted to run his own business and work in a field that he was passionate about. After six years as an investment banker he found the niche he was after. He identified a growing trend for taking several short breaks a year, as opposed to a single, longer holiday and for having experience-led holidays compared to the more traditional city break.

In 2003, with friends Alastair Poulain and Tom Barber, Nick launched Original Travel in his spare bedroom. The company had a simple goal; to redefine the long weekend. From the start it was well received. It is now one of the UK’s fastest growing bespoke travel companies and has won many national awards along the way. Now in its seventh year of trading, Original Travel has more than 200 trips on offer. Whilst the company has grown, the ethos of Original Travel remains the same, to maximise the potential for outstanding and original experiences. Attention to detail, first-hand destination knowledge amongst the team and quality of service are key factors at Original Travel. Their success is borne out by the fact that over 70% of business comes from repeat-and-referral clients. Recent product launches include a long-haul portfolio entitled ‘Beyond The Big Short Break’; a range of family holidays entitled ‘Original Kids’, and the release of two books The Big Short Break and Dive in Style.

Rivers Run Red

Justin Bovington (pictured right), while stumbling across some 3D virtual technology, saw a unique opportunity to build a business that provided companies and brands with a new channel of expression and immersion. Since 2003, Justin and his wife Louise (pictured left) and a small team of programmers and designers stretched the canvas of virtual worlds, helping companies like Adidas, Vodafone, SKY NEWS and Coca-Cola extend their digital strategies. Beyond brand campaigns, Justin and Louise saw the potential of virtual worlds and 3D immersive environments to help solve ecological, collaboration and communication issues facing many organisations today. The company was the first of its kind to provide a separate enterprise solution for use with 3D immersive environments. As a result, theyve been influential in creating and building the market for virtual worlds and the 3D Web.

SuperJam - Winner of Young Entrepreneur

Fraser Doherty (pictured) was taught how to make jam by his grandmother and at 14 set up SuperJam selling jam to his neighbours. Fraser expanded the business and within a few months was selling homemade produce at church fetes and farmers markets.

In March 2007 his 100% fruit jam, SuperJam, launched across Waitrose stores and he became the youngest ever supplier to a British supermarket. He even did a rock n roll style tour of Waitrose stores, signing jars and handing out samples. Two years later, SuperJam is the number one brand of jam in Scottish Waitrose stores and is now available nationally in over 1,000 supermarkets, including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Budgens.

The SuperJam website is a key tool for the company with a weekly blog from Fraser, an online shop and regular competitions. Fraser has also set up a charitable project running tea parties for lonely elderly people who are housebound or in care.

The Cool Drinks Company

Aaron Prout (pictured) and Neil Harrison set up The Cool Drinks Company in 2006 in response to the trend towards healthier lifestyles and the new food and drink standards in schools. They both previously worked at a large corporate drinks company and it took a huge amount of determination to launch their business. The Cool Drinks Company provides pure, fresh and natural drinks to schools and colleges through vending machines. With the vending machine industry slow to react to the new health conscious society, Neil and Aarons new business challenges the industry norms with a unique approach that is underpinned by the use of modern technology. The Cool Drinks Company use technology to provide real time remote access to their vending machines that allows them to get instant sales and operational data and replenish the machines on demand. They also plan to move into other sectors to meet the growing demand for fresh and natural drinks for people in universities, hospitals, leisure centres and workplaces.

t-mac Technologies

t-mac Technologies is a growing family business, run by brother and sister Jonathan and Lisa Wilkinson (pictured), that designs a range of energy saving devices with the sole purpose of helping businesses cut their carbon emissions. The company is consistently educating businesses on being proactive in their energy management practices. The t-mac range can monitor, meter, manage and control energy consumption for almost any industry, from the public sector to large corporate banks and retail outlets. In 2007 the company secured a contract worth over 1.5million to supply t-mac to two major banks. They are also working closely with major utility suppliers and winning lucrative contracts with constabularies, councils and retail outlets.

TravelGuru.tv

Travelguru.tv founder, Cathy Bartrop (pictured) cut her teeth as a Sales & Marketing Manager for tour operators Saga Holidays and Thomas Cook before realising corporate life was not for her and initially set up her own media company in 1989. It was a chance encounter with a BBC travel commentator that made her realise that there was no longer a travel programme catering for the more mature traveller. Seeds of an idea started to form and the advances in online video streaming made it possible to create made for broadband programming. So using her industry knowledge, media contacts and online marketing experience Cathy launched Travelguru.tv in January 2008. Harnessing the unrivalled expertise of a team of gurus, Travelguru.tv produces first hand and exclusive location reports and great holiday discounts on an inspiring selection of holiday products and destinations. It aims to become the number one trusted travel resource for the mature, discerning traveller. Running her own business also gave Cathy the flexibility she craved for and it allowed her to continue working whilst raising a family.

VirtualGym TV

Prior to spearheading VirtualGym TV Richard Davis (pictured) enjoyed a highly successful career in the corporate pensions, investment and insurance industry. This background provided him with in-depth expertise in corporate finance and employee benefits, giving him the commercial acumen that prepared him to strike out on his own. As a keen recreational sportsman he became increasingly aware of the government pressure on large businesses to take responsibility for the mental and physical health of their employees outside of their day-to-day working lives. As this trend coincided with the increased availability of faster broadband technology, Richard identified the Internet as an untapped, cost effective medium for providing widespread employee health and fitness benefits. Richard set up VirtualGym TV in 2008, an innovative online health and fitness resource that is set to revolutionise personal fitness. It is the worlds only live broadcasting and on-demand online gym, providing access to exercise and fitness classes exclusively over the Internet, which offers a flexible and personalised fitness service. Since its launch, VirtualGym TV continues to expand its range of services and corporate clients, and is already being described as the future of personal fitness.

Yellow Octopus

Jack Ostrowski (pictured), a Polish immigrant who moved to the UK 4 years ago, set up Yellow Octopus Ltd after being inspired by entrepreneurs like Peter Jones and Richard Branson. The company sells outlet clothing, footwear and high quality second hand clothing to 12 different countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Jack has created a successful enterprise despite the language barriers and is very proud to be role model for the growing community of Poles and other ethnic groups in the UK. Technology has played a crucial role in developing and directing Yellow Octopus as it has helped identify new business opportunities and ensures efficiency when working across 12 different countries. In its very first year of trading the company hit a turnover of over 1 million and now in its third year, is aiming for a 5 million turnover.

Young Marmalade - Winner of Original Business Concept

Young Marmalade was developed in 2005 after identifying a niche in the young driver sector. Previously Marmalade offered motoring benefits to the corporate sector. However, when a client relocated and many of their young staff had to drive to work (often in older cars filled with colleagues and with inadequate insurance) the challenge to find a safer, yet cost effective solution was set.

Founders Crispin Moger (pictured), Nick Moger and Nigel Lacy developed Young Marmalade by negotiating an insurance policy with a fixed price premium, regardless of location. This unique policy was linked to the sale of small, but safe, cars. Part of the volume discount, agreed with the manufacturer, subsidised the insurance premium, creating the Young Marmalade combined car purchase and insurance scheme.

Operating exclusively via a sophisticated website, Young Marmalade offers young drivers (and their parents) a one stop solution at an otherwise stressful time and links the purchase to competitive finance terms, if required. To reduce costs further, Young Marmalade also sells nearly new cars that retain the safety benefits. This has created situations in urban locations where the cost of a modern, safer car and the unique insurance policy is less than the cost of traditional insurance on its own.