Judges

Stephen is a founder, was CEO and is currently Deputy Chairman of the World of Books Group, which is a circular economy, for profit business that protects the planet and supports charities by enabling more goods to be re-used. Based in West Sussex and including World of Books, Ziffit and Shopiago brands, in thirteen years this tech enabled business has grown from a start-up into one of the largest online sellers of used books in the world. In 2019 the Group was awarded certified B Corporation status and is committed to using its business as a force for good.

Family Business United (‘FBU’) is an unparalleled rallying point and voice for the family business sector that champions family firms across the UK. FBU affords family businesses the opportunity to network, explore ways of dealing with specific issues that are unique to family firms and provides access to the best articles and insights from around the world. Innovative events, a bespoke magazine and an award-winning website plus an incredible presence on social media enhances their offering. Family firms are at the very heart of FBU, an organisation that really does put family business on the map.

After 15 years working in Private Wealth Management, Paul co-founded the business with Stephen Moore launching their first Flight Club in October 2015 in Shoreditch. In 2018 the first international Flight Club was opened in Chicago followed a year later by the launch of both the businesses TopCo, Red Engine, and a second concept, Electric shuffle in Canary Wharf. By the end of 2021, the business will have 10 sites nationally and 5 sites internationally in the USA and Australia.

Rachel is the Editor of Growing Business Intelligence. She is the former Enterprise Editor of The Sunday Times and author of eight books about entrepreneurs, business and personal development, including How to Start a Business without any Money, How to Make a Million before Lunch and How to Work for Yourself.

Mark worked in Private Equity prior to co-founding West Cornwall Pasty Co in 1998. The business twice featured in The Sunday Times Fastrack 100, winning The Sunday Times Emerging Brand award and was sold in 2007 for £30m.

Mark is co-founder of ONE FEEDS TWO, a feeding charity that has provided over 10 million school meals to children in poverty, and has worked with entrepreneurs at The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg as well as appearing as a panelist in the Sky TV series “Cooks to Market”.
Mark now runs JOOI, a modern sexual lifestyle and wellness site.

Oliver leads The Supper Club team to deliver amazing peer learning experiences to founders of growth SME’s.
Online and in-person connections and experiences allow the members to get the peer support they need at the right time on the journey of personal, business and better growth.
At the heart of The Supper Club is an ethos of Give and Get. Our members support each other by openly sharing their experiences and learnings. They help each other to grow and to avoid often costly mistakes.
Previously Oliver led MindTools.com a global learning business that was sold to Emerald Publishing in 2019.

James is passionate about growing businesses and especially enjoys supporting and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs.

The majority of his Executive career was spent as a private equity backed CFO. His successes include the sale of uSwitch to Zoopla for £190m and the two management buy-outs of Sporting Index for £53m and £76m respectively.
He is a Partner at Positive Momentum and an adviser to BGF where he provides deal support for their potential investments.
He is a Non-Executive Director of his 142 year old family-owned UK manufacturing business – Centurion Safety Products.

Simon Duffy MBE is the founder of leading international skincare brand Bulldog, and the innovative new oral care disruptor, Waken, an innovative new oral care brand. Bulldog launched in 2007 and was acquired by Edgewell Personal Care in 2016. Waken launched in 2019 in the UK and is currently expanding internationally.

Environmental Entrepreneur with a 20 years track record of building world class teams in B2B and retail. Specialist skills include, sales, building lean profitable business models, high yield growth, equity/debt finance and risk management. Passionate about building 21st century companies that have purpose over profit but are still commercially viable entities.

Deborah leads a team responsible for representing members, keeping them informed and delivering the membership offer. The team respond to sector led and regional policy requirements for North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber, Midlands and South West regions to ensure that businesses across England have a strong voice within the CBI’s campaigns. Deborah also manages the CBI’s SME team which operates on a pan-UK basis. Finally, she has oversight of the CBI’s Events and Commercial Partnerships programme, who facilitate more than 400 events each year on behalf of the CBI.

Deborah joined the CBI in 2014. Prior to her current role she was Regional Director for the South West where she increased the CBI membership base by more than half.

Before joining the CBI, Deborah amassed more than 15 years’ experience running a profitable social enterprise, managing a regional branch of a national charity, and spent several years in the civil service and coal mining sector. Deborah studied politics at the University of Manchester.

Sue Gee is the Business Development Director at Prosper² Media, publisher of Real Business, and has 20 years of running her own training, learning and coaching business under her belt. Accomplished businesswoman and energetic ‘people person’, Sue lives and breathes the contents of her published guide to leadership and management, ‘Who’s driving the bus?’

Philippa Gogarty is Co Founder and Executive Director of Micro Scooters Ltd, which she founded in 2004 with her business partner. They founded the company whilst living in Clapham, after Anna came across the the mini micro scooter on Clapham common. Instantly the small three wheeled scooter became an integral part of children’s everyday lives and the company grew to include an entire range of scooters and accessories for children as young as 18 months to 80 years. Philippa lives in West Sussex and has an interest in supporting refugees in Northern France. Philippa enjoys walking cycling skiing and travelling.

Darren created Santander’s Growth Capital business nearly 10 years ago following a banking and private equity career supporting high growth SME’s in the UK and Europe. The team facilitates growth projects from strategic acquisitions to R&D and international expansion. Santander Growth Capital is active across a very wide range of sectors and supports entrepreneur founder owner managers as well as institutional equity backed businesses. It is an innovative and flexible form of debt finance designed to help UK businesses grow, without giving away control or significant equity.

Following a degree in Law and Japanese, Emma joined international accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where she worked in London, Leeds and Manchester offices and set up the firm’s Inward Investment practice that attracted overseas companies to locate in the UK. In 2000, bitten by the dot.com bug, Emma left the firm to start her first business, Techlocate.
After 15 months, the company was successfully sold to Tenon plc. The experience of starting, growing and selling a business from a home base gave Emma the idea for Enterprise Nation which was launched in 2006 as the home business website.
The company has since expanded to become a small business membership community of over 75,000 people who benefit from events and support: online and in person. Enterprise Nation also presents a campaigning voice to government and the media on behalf of its members.
In 2021, Emma was awarded a CBE for services to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Julia has built three multi-million pound companies and now works with entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses. She founded Retail Profile Europe, which pioneered the use of pop up kiosks for start-up retailers in shopping centres.

She successfully exited the business and founded Bold Clarity to focus on providing facilitation and training for entrepreneurs and their leadership teams.
Julia combines her business and leadership experience, facilitating workshops and retreats for peer groups - including the Young Presidents Organisation, the Entrepreneurs Organisation and Vistage.
She has worked with thousands of business owners in 20 countries worldwide.

Specialist Private Equity Investor helping SME’ s grow and create value under challenging and complex situations including stressed businesses. Works closely with Investee Management teams and partners to deliver a commercial and practical approach in getting things done and dealing with the challenges in delivering financial and operational business improvements.

Sector generalist with 20+ years’ experience as an Investor, advisor and banker and with particular expertise in cash management, process/profit improvements and risk management, all of which support value creation strategies.

Sean Longsdale joined Santander in June 2012 to help build out the Structured Finance business in the Corporate & Commercial Bank. The team now incorporates a Financial Sponsors team, who manage Private Equity backed transactions; a Growth Capital team who support high growth SME’s to realise their aspirations with debt capital solutions; a Strategic Debt Solutions team who support businesses with complex and/ or leveraged funding needs such as mergers and acquisitions and a Specialised and Project Finance team, who focus on the renewable energy sector and other niche financing requirements.

Dr Graeme Malcolm is CEO and founder of M Squared, a multi-award-winning photonics and quantum technology company. It’s one of the UK’s most innovative and disruptive technology businesses, well-known for creating the world’s purest light. Graeme is deeply committed to finding technological and entrepreneurial solutions to society’s pressing problems, including improving healthcare, halting climate change and ushering in a new generation of quantum solutions. He’s a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Institute of Physics. In 2015, he was awarded an OBE for his services to Science and Innovation.

As MD of O’Donovan Waste, Jacqueline is one of the waste and construction sectors’ most passionate pioneers of employee-training, industry best-practice and road-safety. Jacqueline is recognised as an innovator and a leading-force in the industry and is a keen advocate of sustainable-operations as well as encouraging diversity and inclusion. She has received numerous accolades for her work and holds several respected fellowships/affiliations with professional organisations/bodies in the sector. She is a recipient of the Growing Business ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ title as well as the Women’s Economic Forum naming her as their Woman of the Decade in Enterprise and Leadership.

Dr Breda O’Dwyer: Senior Lecturer and Director of the Richard Cantillon Institute, at Munster Technological University, leading regions through transformation with entrepreneurial sustainable solutions. Breda has co-designed and co-implemented a number of design led entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial programmes including the European winning Design4SMEs commercialization programme for post graduates. She is VP of Education and Practitioner Learning of the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and co-chair of REntEd Sig Group. Her initiatives target founders, researchers, policy makers, students, and teams within micro to global corporates, aiming to stimulate their entrepreneurial mind-sets towards innovative commercial and other added value solutions.

I have been a civil servant for 22 years. My most recent role at the Department of International Trade (DIT) is London Export Champion Manger. The main purpose of this role is to manage an ambassadorial/ focus group of high exporting SME’s in London. This group is known as the London Export Champions. The main purpose of this group is to Encourage low and potential exporters to export through our marketing campaign and DIT led events. We also used the group for insight into business challenges and barriers that helps shape future policy including Free Trade Agreements.

Rupa Shinh is a successful, well respected and trailblazing multi-award-winning serial entrepreneur, investor, founder CEO, consultant and board advisor. For 17 years, she has invested in and founded a myriad of pioneering and disruptive award-winning global companies. Prestigious accolades include: Management Today’s Inspiring Women, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year Nominee, DigiLeaders 100, Business Elite’s 40 under 40 & Successful Women In Business.

Emma focuses on new and existing investments within Bridges’ Sustainable Growth Funds strategy, which partners with high growth, purpose-led companies to help them scale-up their operations and impact.

Emma has led Bridges’ investments into Nkuku, a leading D2C ethical homewares brand, Vegetarian Express, which helps over 4,000 chefs create great plant-based menus, and Impact Food Group, a specialist contract caterer with a mission to ‘feed more pupils better food’ across 300 UK secondary and primary schools.

Prior to joining Bridges Emma worked at Phoenix Equity Partners, at a start-up in Hong Kong, and at Deloitte as a strategy consultant.

John Treharne is a former accountant and England squash player who’s experience in the fitness industry spans 29 years.

In 1991 John started his first gym business, Dragons Health Clubs, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, with 22 clubs. Dragons was sold in 2000. He then lent his expertise to premium gym chain Esporta, before he concentrated on the launch of The Gym Group in 2008.
Under John’s leadership, The Gym Group pioneered the low cost gym model with contractless, 24/7 operations and online sign-up. In November 2015, The Gym Group became the first UK health and fitness group to debut on the London Stock Exchange in over 15 years. In February 2016 the business was named as a finalist and Ruban d’Honneur recipient in the 2015/16 European Business awards. John stepped down as CEO of The Gym Group in September 2018, but remains on the board as Founder Director.
Today, The Gym Group is nationwide with over 170 sites and a roll-out programme of 15-20 new gyms each year. It has had over 100 million gym visits since launch in 2008 and over 15 million gym visits in 2018, and has a membership of over 800,000, which would fit into Wembley, Twickenham, the Bernabeu, the MCG, Old Trafford, Croke Park and the Nou Camp combined.

Amber is Events Director at Real Deals Media and Director of Growing Business Intelligence.Prior to joining Real Deals Media, Amber spent nine years at Argus Media, developing and building up an events portfolio, spanning the energy industry across Europe and Africa. During this time, she launched the European Biomass Conference, and specialised the launch of events in developing countries including Tanzania, Ghana and South Africa. Since joining Real Deals Media three years ago, Amber has grown the events portfolio across the private equity sphere in Europe, as well as leading and driving the growing business audience via both events and content.

Henry leads Beauhurst’s Research & Consultancy team. He is an expert on business finance and has worked on briefs for clients including the British Business Bank, HM Treasury, BEIS and Innovate UK. Henry regularly gives presentations on market trends at events around the country. He studied Classics at the University of Oxford.