Top 10 young UK entrepreneurs, part II
LaunchLab.co.uk and the Make Your Mark campaign introduce 10 of the
UK's most exciting young entrepreneurs. Can you spot the next Branson
or Roddick? Here are numbers four to seven.
4. Rebecca Jayne Philipson
UR-In The Paper Ltd
www.inthepaper.co.uk
24 year-old Rebecca Jayne Philipson is founder and Director of UR-In The Paper Ltd, the first producer of tabloid gift newspapers in the UK.
In two years she has won the People’s Choice Award at the Enterprising Young Brits competition final, appeared on BBC 2’s Dragons’ Den and grown her business considerably to a company of 11 people with a turnover of £1 million.
A year on from winning the Enterprising Young Brits award during Enterprise Week 2006, Rebecca has struck a deal with Tesco who will start selling personalised newspapers through their branches nationwide, and this will go a long way in contributing to the £4 million turnover that Rebecca has been predicted for the following year.
She will shortly be opening her first retail outlet in London and will be launching her franchise business at the end of September 2007.
Rebecca was only twenty-one and studying for a degree in English and Art History when she decided to follow her lifetime ambition and set up her own company.
She funded the venture through her own savings, family help and her local Business Link in County Durham and has not looked back since.
Rebecca’s entrepreneurialism was recognised in 2006 when she won the People’s Choice category of the Enterprising Young Brits awards.
5. James Dunlop
Myhab
www.myhab.com
Like many final-year undergraduates, 24 year old James Dunlop faced the unenviable task of completing a dissertation for his Product Design degree. For James, however, this project was not just a vital part of his course – it also provided him with the initial idea to launch his own successful company.
His business, Myhab, was established in 2006 and born out of James’ concerns about the number of wasted tents abandoned after music festivals in the UK.
Around 10,000 tents were abandoned after Glastonbury Festival in 2005 and figures like this motivated James to create Myhab - an eco-friendly, two person habitat made from recycled materials.
Myhab aims to provide a hassle-free, comfortable and environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic tents.
This idea formed the basis of James’ dissertation and, having completed his degree, he was awarded the prestigious New Designers Award in 2006.
This success encouraged James to develop the project into a business and he successfully pitched the idea to city firm, MINT, who offered him the investment he needed.
“The UK music festival industry has grown considerably in the past 5 years,” James says, “so it makes sense to start to consider the environmental impact of that growth.
I am passionate about ethical design and Myhab was the perfect way to pursue that interest whilst also tackling a key environmental issue.”
James is hoping for a turnover of £600,000 within Myhab’s first year and is excited about expanding the business further.
“Not only are music festivals a market sector for Myhab, but we are also looking at camping for sporting event weekends, selling to campsite operators and providing emergency shelter in the event of a natural disaster.”
Due to launch very soon, Myhab is expected to be seen at more than 10 UK and international music festivals. As James says, his product will bring an end to tent-related nightmares like pitching, flooding and damp nights!
6. Ryan Dunlop
Hitz Radio Limited
www.hitzradio.co.uk
Ryan set up Hitz Radio Limited, an independent commercial media group (radio, television, recording, publishing, distribution and news) in 2006, aged just 16. Whilst at school he went work for a London media group and decided that he could set up and run his own media group more efficiently, and so he did!
Ryan is an inspiration to would-be teenpreneurs and proof that age is no barrier to success. He says, “There’s no such thing as failure, it’s just feedback! Do what you want, when you want and work for it – it’s the best thing in the world!”
Ryan uses standard advertising and PR mechanisms, but has also used social networking sites such as Myspace to great effect, particularly in reaching the right target audience.
Ryan says, “The internet is the most useful tool available to any budding entrepreneur since you can skip the middle man and then the possibilities are endless”. He also presents his own show on Hitz Radio UK and is the director of Hitz Television.
Hitz Radio Limited now employs 40 people and has an annual turnover of approximately £3million. The group is made up of Hitz Radio UK, Hitz Radio XTRA, Hitz Radio GLASGOW, Hitz Radio LONDON, Hitz News, Hitz Records, Hitz Television and Hitz Music.
7. Baljeet Singh & Rowland Egege
Pro-Active Sports
www.proactive-sports.co.uk
Pro-Active Sports was set up in April 2006 by thirty year-old Rowland Egege and twenty-six year-old Baljeet Singh. They met while working for Bradford Council as Physical Activity Leaders, and had the idea of Pro-Active Sports when they realised that very few primary schools actually had dedicated P.E. teachers.
Pro-Active Sports aims to promote physical activity and sports along with healthy eating patterns. They take an educational approach to the delivery of their sessions, providing teachers with lesson plans and children with contemporary information on sport and physical activity.
As a social enterprise, Baljeet and Rowland secured £15,000 worth of initial finance from ATL Social Enterprise for equipment, wages, advertising and additional setting up costs. The success of the company has been exceptional and, in less than a year of operating, Pro-Active Sports has contracts with over forty primary schools in the Bradford area, employing more than ten members of qualified staff.
Rowland and Baljeet’s entrepreneurial efforts were recognised when Gordon Brown presented them with an Enterprising Young Brits award during Enterprise Week in November 2006, when they won the Social & Environmental category of the competition.
See also:
Top ten young UK entrepreneurs, part I
Top ten young UK entrepreneurs, part III
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