It’s that time of year when anyone responsible for award ceremonies begins to round up the finalists and start engraving statuettes. While we’re not offering any awards ourselves (not yet, anyway), we’re always interested in how the UK’s freelancing and entrepreneurial communities are getting on. With that in mind, we caught up with Yessi Bello Perez – a journalist Tech City News whose brief it is to keep her finger on the UK’s entrepreneurial pulse – to find out who we ought to be looking out for in 2017. Thinking of starting your own business? The inspiration begins here.
Emma Sinclair, MBE
Not exactly a new face, the co-founder of EnterpriseJungle is still a serial entrepreneur who most would say has plenty more tricks up her sleeve. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2016. “Emma Sinclair is an incredibly inspiring lady,” says Yessi.
“She’s super bright and incredibly well-connected. She was also the youngest person ever in the UK to take a business public, which she did at the age of 29. I think she’s one of those people who’s always ahead of the curve.”
Associated with: EnterpriseJungle, Target Parking, Wakeman Road
Christoph Rieche
“In iwoca, Christoph has founded a company that helps finance SMEs,” says Yessi. “The company raised a significant round of investment last year and it’s expanding quickly, so their future looks promising.” A former VP at Goldman Sachs, Christoph’s iwoca is transforming funding for small businesses, “using technology to eliminate the cost and complexity associated with traditional business finance.”
Associated with: iwoca
Ishaan Malhi
Ishaan Mahli is the founder and CEO of Trussle, a startup that is taking a huge amount of pain out of securing a mortgage (mainly by doing away with mortgage advisers). Yessi says: “Ishaan from Trussle is making a lot of noise in the PropTech industry and he was the clear winner of the ‘Best in PropTech’ prize at our flagship annual competition Elevator Pitch Live.”
Associated with: Trussle
Dr Sai Lakshmi
The brainchild of Dr Sai Lakshmi, a former Apple business exec, Echo is one of those ‘why didn’t I think of that’ products, facilitating the ordering and distribution of repeat prescriptions between local surgeries and their patients. So far it has been backed to the tune of £1.8 million. “Echo is a great idea,” says Yessi, “and I really do believe they’ll get places.”
Associated with: Echo
Abbas Kazmi
At the tender age of 24, Kazmi is the founder of Collegiate Capital, a venture firm focusing on fintech, cybersecurity and gaming. He founded his first company, specialising in gaming, at the extraordinary age of 16, and is now the CEO of the Oxford Accelerator, which helps businesses under the auspices of Oxford University. In January 2017 he was chosen as one of Forbes Magazine‘s “30 Entrepreneurs Under 30.”
Associated with: Collegiate Capital, Oxford Accelerator
