Enterprising Young Brits winners announced!
March 24th, 2009 by hbourneThe winners of the 2009 Make Your Mark Enterprising Young Brits Awards were announced today (Tuesday 24 March 2009) at a very swanky ceremony at the Institute of Directors (IoD), London.
They were each presented with a trophy and £1,000 prize money by Chancellor Alistair Darling, who made time to chat to finalists and hear their positive stories.
Priya Lakhani, a 27-year-old lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, won the Business category. Priya only set up her company Masala Masala seven months ago, yet is already selling her range of traditional Indian cooking sauces in shops and delis in over 30 countries. She has already seen a spike in sales via ocado.com as a result of the publicity around the awards, which has meant she has been able to give more homeless people in India a meal through her Masala Masala Trust.
Miles Templeman, Director General of the IoD and competition judge panel, said: “I’ve been really impressed with all today’s finalists but the winners stood out as exceptional young talents. These inspirational young people have shown creativity, determination and business nous. None have been blown off course by the recession, simply dealt with it alongside their other challenges.”
The Creative category was won by 26-year-old Adam Duffy and his company Looks Can Kill (www.kingsofneon.com, www.solecreator.co.uk) which makes custom designed stylish trainers. People can design their own online and receive the trainers in just a few days. Adam demonstrated the potential of his business by presenting each of the judges with a personalised trainer during his five-minute pitch.
Matt Lovett won the Teen category with his marketing company WOW Media. Matt made it to the finals last year but was unsuccessful. He didn’t give up and applied this year to go on and take the trophy. His business has blossomed and he employs six members of staff, despite the fact that he’s only 17-years-old!
The Rob Williams People’s Choice Award was also up for grabs. Decided by the public in an online vote, which closed minutes before the awards ceremony began, the award went to Dean Rhodes-Brandon, the 17-year-old that founded YourLocalCinema.com, an innovative not-for-profit website and information service that is designed to help those who are hearing or visually impaired to fully enjoy the cinema experience.
This year the award has been presented in memory of Rob Williams, co-founder of the successful Dolphin Music Company and a finalist in last year’s Enterprising Young Brits Awards. Passionate about inspiring others, Rob was an Ambassador for the Make Your Mark campaign and tragically died earlier this month.
The Social & Environmental category was won by Signal Films founder Kerry Kolbe (30). Signal Films provides creative and professional development opportunities for young people who want to work in the film industry.
There was a new category for 2009, the Going Global category; open to businesses that are successfully operating in the UK and abroad. It was introduced to celebrate the first ever Global Entrepreneurship Week last November. The award went to Lucian Tarnowski (25), the founder of theweb 2.0 graduate recruitment service and social network BraveNewTalent.com.
Global Entrepreneurship Week hosts from Australia and Malaysia were in the audience for the awards; the Malaysian host was so impressed he plans to launch a Malay version!
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