New competition with £300,000 in cash prizes will support the best young UK start-up founders on their growth journey to encourage job creation.
- Amelia Christie-Miller scoops top prize of £150,000 to support the growth of her company Bold Bean Co, which offers high-quality jarred beans for cooking and is stocked in major supermarkets.
https://boldbeanco.com/ - Tom Ushakov is named runner up and takes £100,000 for his business the London Pregnancy Clinic, which provides unique services aimed to support expectant mothers.
https://www.londonpregnancy.com/ - Charlotte Stavrou completes the winners circle with £50,000 towards her SevenSix Agency, which aims to act as a direct response to the lack of diversity within the advertising industry.
https://www.sevensixagency.com/
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has unveiled the winners of the inaugural young entrepreneurs’ awards run through his UK registered charity the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation.
The top prizes, totalling £300,000 were announced in London and follows on from the success of his other UK awards for disabled entrepreneurs (run in partnership with Leonard Cheshire, the disability charity), now in its 16th year.
The new awards saw 52 UK-based businesses apply with a shortlist of entrants facing a grilling from Sir Stelios over several key criteria in which he chose the winners who the Foundation felt could ensure the money would be best used to create jobs in the UK and provide a multiplier effect.
The awards targeted the best young start-up entrepreneurs who always need a bit of extra capital, but also the recognition of winning the awards, on their journey to scale-up into a successful growth business and create more new jobs in the UK.
Winners were also chosen because Sir Stelios believes each entrepreneur can be role models for young people who are dreaming of starting their own businesses and be their own boss rather than working for others.
The Winners
Amelia Christie-Miller, Bold Bean Co – £150,000
Amelia started Bold Bean Co in 2021 with the ambition “to make you obsessed with beans, by giving you the best of beans”.
The entrepreneur, who was previously a private chef, came up with the idea while living abroad in Madrid. She opened her fridge one day to find nothing but a jar of heirloom butter beans. Having previously hated beans but with nothing else available, she ate a spoonful straight from the jar. It was this moment where her perception of beans changed forever.
Using her knowledge as a chef and network from her role at Foodchain, she started learning how to use beans more creatively and recognised they could be a key ingredient in virtually any meal, whilst being rich in protein and a natural meat replacement.
Aiming to change the public perception of beans, Bold Bean Co sells expertly sourced, slowly cooked beans, all carefully jarred with no additives or preservatives. Within a year the company became a firm favourite of a number of well-known chefs and sold in stores such as Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s.
Amelia plans to use the money to help grow the brand, with an eye to international expansion and new product ranges.
Amelia said:
“This grant is game changing – in an economic context where brands are taught to think of survival as opposed to long term investments in brand and value – this is an absolute gift. It allows us blue-sky thinking and creativity that we just couldn’t indulge in before. We are beyond grateful for this opportunity to help us make even more people bean obsessed.”
Tom Ushakov, London Pregnancy Clinic
Tom grew up in a family of doctors, where he gained a passion for innovation and education in the healthcare sector.
Early childhood memories included a huge ultrasound machine in his living room and conversations with his father, who is an ObGyn doctor – meaning women’s health was always part of his life.
But Tom decided to pursue a career in architecture, before deciding he was better placed starting his own business in a sector he knew well.
The London Pregnancy Clinic was born in 2019 and aims to harness AI and the digital revolution in healthcare to support women during pregnancy and he will use the money to expand access to high-quality antenatal education nationwide.
Tom said:
“Sir Stelios’ Foundation grant gives us a real shot at bringing London Pregnancy Clinic to the national stage, from being a local business. We are extremely excited at our leap into digital health and look forward to showcasing the end product.”
Charlotte Stavrou nee Williams , SevenSix Agenc
Charlotte launched SevenSix Agency in 2019 due to a glaring lack of diversity and representation in the advertising and influencer space from her time in the industry.
Having realised that the industry seriously underrepresented some voices, she set out to ensure “diversity” was not just a buzzword, but had meaningful impact through how she runs her business.
Her company is focused on addressing the racial pay gap in the influencer space and crafting campaigns and marketing strategies that genuinely reflect diverse voices and experiences.
The money from the awards will be used to invest into training and development for her business and its team.
Charlotte said:
“Winning the inaugural Stelios Young Entrepreneurs Award here in the UK is an absolute game changer.
“This year our focus is on sustainable growth and the grant will contribute to stabilising our cash flow and investing in training and development for our team.
“I feel extremely privileged to have received the award and it will make a huge impact on a business of our size for a multitude of factors. Thank you Stelios, Tracy and the team for taking the time to meet with me and learn more about my business, I am honoured.”
Each applicant for the awards had to meet the following criteria:
- 35 years old or younger (born in 1988 or later).
- Running a start-up company registered at Companies House (UK) in the last 5 years (registered in 2018 or later).
- In current ownership of more than 50% of the shares of the company and be a director of the company.
There are three cash prizes for the winners totalling £300,000 that must be invested in the business to further its growth and success. For the avoidance of doubt these are cash grants to be paid by the Stelios Foundation to the business accounts of the three winners without any other conditions. They are prizes and not an investment in return for shares nor a loan.
Sir Stelios said:
“Over the last 30 years I have a long track record of helping to create tens of thousands of UK jobs both on the for-profit side by creating the easy family of brands (www.easy.com) but also with my charitable foundation and the existing awards for disabled entrepreneurs. I am really impressed with the three winners of these new awards which proves once again that in the UK of 2024 entrepreneurship is very much alive and kicking! Each of the winners are very good at promoting themselves and their businesses in the marketplace, and I think they would make great ambassadors for our awards going forward and great role models for others to start their own business! That is how new jobs are created in the real economy!
The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation which is launching and funding the award has the stated mission of supporting a very diverse range of good causes but “close to home” i.e., in the local communities that Sir Stelios and his family have lived and worked and of course the UK is one of them. The foundation has been running very successful similar entrepreneur’s awards in Greece and Cyprus supporting job creation in the local economies for many years.
For more information
Simon Neville
Director, Communications
SEC Newgate
T: +44 777 979 2868
E: easygroup@secnewgate.co.uk
About easyGroup Ltd and Stelios Philanthropic Foundation easyGroup Ltd is the creator and owner of the easy family of brands (see www.easy.com, www.easyHistory.info).
A few facts and figures about the Stelios Philanthropic foundation www.stelios.org. Sir Stelios and easyGroup have donated more than €84,000,000 to the UK charity since 2010
The main projects are:
- Food from the heart: 35,000,000 free snacks given to those in need in Greece and Cyprus since 2013 with a retail value of €35,000,000
- €8,800,000 for about 300 Scholarships at London school of Economics, City University and other academic institutions
- €7,200,000 in cash prizes to entrepreneurs to encourage job creation
- €2,500,000 for the environmental working with WWF and the Prince Albert II Foundation
Over the past 30 years, the easy family of brands have been carefully managed and developed to become the icons they are today. easyGroup, owned by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has created a steady recurring income stream from the “easy” royalties. As a result, easyGroup donates the majority of its profits to the UK registered charity Stelios Philanthropic Foundation www.stelios.org through which Sir Stelios gives back to society. Sir Stelios every year launches new easy branded businesses in partnership with more entrepreneurs who are experts in their own fields, and they have realised that using the easy brand under licence can fast track their own growth.
This investment is justifiably protected by easyGroup on behalf of the easy family of brands by stopping brand thieves who use the easy brand without our permission and without our controls. We want to uphold the rule of law and protect consumers from being misled by these brand thieves that they are a legitimate member of the easy family when they are not. Ultimately, it is this protection that allows Stelios Foundation to deliver a positive impact, including with this latest young entrepreneur competition.
A list of cases brought against brand thieves can be found at https://easy.com/.