2023 Top 100 List
KRYSTLE
MCGILVERY
2023 WINNER
Krystle McGilvery
Krystle is a highly sought-after expert speaker on finance as well as the Director of Abianda, of a social enterprise supporting women and girls affected by gangs and county lines.
As the founder of “Mind over Money”, a consultancy using behavioural finance to improve the confidence and financial acumen of aspiring people, she has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Moneybox Live, on ITV Tonight and many other programmes. She is listed in the Top 100 Women INvolve Yahoo Finance Future Leaders 2022, the Top 100 Black Women in Tech 2020, and was a finalist in the Great British Businesswomen Award 2022.
Krystle is a behavioural scientist with more than 15 years’ experience in finance, business and education. She is a CIMA Chartered Accountant and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) Coach who has managed the finances of multi-million-pound businesses and supported individuals through financial difficulty and struggle.
She also works with organisations to improve their employees' financial well-being, through programmes, clinics and e-learning solutions and supports business owners in developing financial confidence and clarity within their business and personal lives. This work has a particular focus on those with ADHD and Dyslexia, with which she herself has been diagnosed.
Finally, Krystle is a Trustee of Maths on Toast providing financial guidance for this family maths charity.
Martin
McKay
2023 WINNER
Martin McKay
Martin has helped over 40 million people worldwide through Texthelp, the company he founded, to help people with dyslexia to read, write, express their thoughts and share information more accurately and fluently, no matter their stage of life.
Martin founded the Northern Ireland-based company in 1996, initially focussing on people with profound speech and dexterity abilities. He went on to develop Texthelp into a top global assistive technology company offering software which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to read whatever is on the screen aloud to the user. Central Washington University did a study of children and their reading comprehension skills which showed that students using Texthelp learned twice as many words as those who did not.
With offices in the USA, Australia, England and Northern Ireland, Texthelp has a truly global presence. Martin’s goal is to have advanced the literacy and understanding of one billion people by 2030.
Martin is an EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist 2022. He serves as an advisor to the Universal Design for Learning council in the USA, having served on the boards of the Assistive Technology Industry Association and the NIMAS group, part of the United States Office of Special Education Programs. In 2017, he received the Presidential Award for his lifetime contributions to literacy amongst dyslexics from the International Dyslexia Association.
Professor Anne
Marie Minihane
2023 WINNER
Professor Anne Marie Minihane
Anne Marie is Professor of Nutrigenics and Head of the Department of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine at Norwich Medical School, UK.
Her research focuses on the impact of genetics and select dietary components, such as fatty acids and the Mediterranean-style diets, on cardio-metabolic and cognitive health. She aims to identify nutritional approaches that promote better health and healthy ageing.
Anne Marie is also an academic advisor to the International Life Sciences Institute, Europe (a consortium of industry, academia and the public sector). In another role, she is the UK representative of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies and a member of its external communication and public trust panel.
Her editorial roles include working as deputy editor of the British Journal of Nutrition and Frontiers in Nutrition.
She completed her first degree in 1991 in nutrition and biochemistry at University College Cork, Ireland). She initially moved to the UK to complete a PhD at Quadram Institute Bioscience in Norfolk, and, apart from spending a year at Auckland Medical School, New Zealand, she still lives in the area.
Anne Marie is a member of the British Nutrition Society, the American Society of Nutrition, the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids and the Nutrigenomics Organisation.
Jarrad
Morris
2023 WINNER
Jarrad Morris
Jarrad is a Welsh entrepreneur who is combatting climate change by helping businesses and individuals switch to electric vehicles.
He launched Fleet-e, a fleet and private electric vehicle leasing company in response to Local Authority and Government targets for electric vehicles. The company has a range of electric cars and vans available for lease, salary sacrifice and rental. The company also provides support with installing charging infrastructure to make the switch to EV as easy as possible.
Committed to sustainability, Jarrad has also launched an EV charging provider, PLUG Charging, for EV drivers and fleets who might not have access the ability to install EV charging infrastructure. This company specialises in off-grid EV charging solutions and is launching a mobile EV charging service in 2023. This service will allow fleets to book a rapid EV charge at a location of their choice. Specifically targeting fleet operators looking to switch to EV and areas where EV charging infrastructure might be underserviced.
Jarrad is also the founder of the ‘Race To Zero’ campaign. The campaign brings together athletes from a range of different sports who want to make a positive climate impact through regeneration projects and raising awareness of theirs and their corporate partners impact using carbon accounting tools.
Jarrad was named 'Entrepreneur of the year' at the 2022 Cardiff Business Awards and ‘Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the 2022 Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
Liam
Murphy
2023 WINNER
Liam Murphy
Liam is the co-founder of Stix Mindfulness which is based on an imaginative invention which has won him a UK tech innovation award. This University of Brighton product design graduate came up with an inspired idea that is largely screen-free and which enables children to take control of their mental wellbeing and develop mental resilience by practicing mindfulness techniques in the context of play.
Although Liam designed the tool in response to mental health challenges he faced at home, it is proving popular with children struggling to cope with mental ill-health issues.
The Stix Mindfulness device comprises a set of hand-held remotes that provide visual, vibration, and auditory feedback to guide children through fun and interactive wellbeing activities. Studies show that mindfulness training not only improves children's overall mental well-being, but can reduce anxiety, depression and stress after just a few sessions. It can also boost test scores, improve family relationships, and make for better sleep.
It pairs a mobile phone with two hand-held remotes which allow children to engage in screen-free interactive mind-body activities which they then record on the phone via game elements such as stars, badges, and different levels to maintain children's interest.
Polly
Neate CBE
2023 WINNER
Polly Neate CBE
Polly has devoted her career to social justice and social change. As chief executive of the charity Shelter since 2017, she has campaigned in favour of providing more social housing to provide people with a stable home. In 2019 she ensured Shelter played a major role in persuading the government to bring in the tenant fees ban.
Polly was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours in 2020 for services to homelessness.
She has also served as the chief executive of Women’s Aid from 2013-2017 where she helped secure legislation to criminalise coercive and controlling behaviour. In this role, she sat as an independent member of both the Labour working group on domestic violence policy, and the government's national oversight group on domestic violence. Prior to that, she worked as the executive director of external relations and communications for Action for Children.
She holds an honorary doctorate of science from Bristol University.
Her non-executive and voluntary roles include trustee of the Young Women’s Trust; as founding steering group member and then trustee of Agenda: Alliance for Women and Girls at Risk; and as trustee of Immunity, a charity providing legal advice and representation for people living with HIV and AIDS.
She won Best CEO on Twitter in 2019's Social CEOs awards.
David
Olusoga obe
2023 WINNER
DAVID OLUSOGA OBE
David is a British-Nigerian historian, author, presenter and BAFTA winning film-maker.
He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, and a columnist for the Observer, The Voice and BBC History Magazine, also writing for The Guardian and the New Statesman.
He presents the long-running BBC history series A House Through Time and wrote and presented the multi-award winning BBC series Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners.
He is a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Black British History and in 2019 was awarded an OBE for services to history and community integration. His book Black and British was longlisted for the Orwell Prize, shortlisted for the inaugural Jhalak Prize and won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize. A children's edition, Black and British: A Short, Essential History was published in 2020.
His other books include The World’s War, which won First World War Book of the Year in 2015, The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism (2011) which he co-authored with Casper Erichsen, and Civilisations (2018).
Born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and British mother, he grew up in Lagos and Gateshead. He attended the University of Liverpool followed by a postgraduate course in broadcast journalism at Leeds Trinity University.
Dominique
Palmer
2023 WINNER
Dominique Palmer
Dominique is a student climate activist who organises events, climate strikes and uses music and the arts to tackle the systematic inequality of climate change and persuade global leaders to take action.
Brought up in London, she is currently studying Political Science and International Relations at Birmingham University. As her interest in climate justice grew, she joined Extinction Rebellion Youth and became a prominent organiser in the UK of the global School Strike for the Climate Movement in 2019. In the same year, Dominique spoke at an event at United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
At the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2021, Dominique joined the New York Times Hub panel alongside educational activist Malala Yousafzai and climate change activist Greta Thunberg.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she took part in the #ClimateStrikeOnline initiative. Organising events for Fridays for Future International and Climate Lives, Dominique managed an event where popular singer/song writer Declan Mckenna sang an eco-protest song outside the Houses of Parliament. She also recorded a song for Earth Day with Swedish songwriter Titiyo and instigated the UK’s first ever Black Ecofeminist Summit.
Dominique has also lobbied MPs to pass The Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill, a private members’ bill, introduced by Lord Bird in March 2020.
Vraj
Pankhania
2023 WINNER
Vraj Pankhania
Over a 50-year career Vraj has used his influence to build a property empire with a community purpose.
Virtually penniless when he arrived in Britain, he has been a pioneering role model, demonstrating how doing things the right way can lead to business success. Founder and Chair of Westcombe Group, he has led the company to become a £500m property development business in the UK Top 25 and is targeting group value of £1bn in the next 5 years.
Vraj’s speciality has been converting crumbling Listed buildings into beautiful apartments, affordable housing, offices and hotels. He has both saved them for the nation and provided much-needed homes. He is now using his influence again to lead the way with a social-justice focus involving regeneration projects and tackling homelessness.
Equally, as Chair of Westcombe Foundation, Vraj has given away millions to transform lives in the UK and emerging economies.
Vraj’s influence has been recognised by high-profile awards:
- Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2022 GG2 Leadership & Diversity Awards
- Developer of the Year, 2021 Asian Business Awards
- Finalist, 2019 Asian Business Awards
- Personality of the Year, 2018 Asian Achievers Awards
He has also been invited to Clarence House to meet the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
Lopa
Patel mbe
2023 WINNER
Lopa Patel MBE
Lopa is a digital entrepreneur, non-executive chair, and trustee as well as being the founder of two ventures in online media and a data-driven marketing consultancy.
She is the founder of equality and inclusion think tank Diversity UK and is a trustee of The Science Museum Group (SMG).
With a lifelong love of science and technology, Lopa has significant experience of creating start-ups and transforming businesses through technology.
She has been recognised with many accolades including an MBE for services to the creative industries in 2009; the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2015 and an Honorary Doctorate by The Open University in 2017 in recognition of her efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in science & technology. and her broader contribution to British industry and culture.
She has previously been a council member of The Open University and a member of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport BBC Charter Review Advisory Board.
Lopa has also been a Trustee of charity Raha International; Deputy Chair of volunteering initiative, Sewa Day; and a Board Member of social enterprise venture TSBC (The Small Business Consultancy).
Jamie
Peacock MBE
2023 WINNER
Jamie Peacock MBE
Jamie is a motivational speaker, leadership mentor, after-dinner speaker and former English professional rugby league footballer.
He played for Leeds Rhinos and the Bradford Bulls in the Super League rugby competition, and captained Great British and England teams at international level. After retiring from rugby in 2015, he became a director of rugby at the Hull Kingston Rovers and continues to contribute to rugby league through regular media appearances. He was honoured with an MBE in 2012 for services to rugby.
Capitalising on his leadership skills as a captain, he launched a new career as a motivational speaker focusing on leadership mentoring and wellbeing. Clients include blue chip business, educational organisations and small and medium-sized businesses.
Jamie developed the Building Champions Mentoring Programme, based on his key principles of success. The programme covers personal development and leadership training and since its launch in 2016, more than 1,000 delegates have completed the 50-day programme.
He has also designed a Be a Champion 30-day Wellbeing Programme that encourages participants to develop robust and healthier habits. To date, thousands of people have undertaken the programme. His book Be a Champion accompanies the course.
His autobiography No White Flag, co-written with Phil Caplan, was published in 2008.
Jonathan
Petrides
2023 WINNER
Jonathan Petrides
Jonathan Petrides, known as JP, is the activist and entrepreneur founder of allplants. His plant-based products are aimed at the two-thirds of Britons who are not vegan or vegetarian, but who want to improve their health and that of the planet by reducing their meat and dairy intake and reduce animal slaughter.
He launched allplants with his brother Alex in 2017 creating plant-based frozen meals from his London kitchen, which runs on 100% renewable energy. JP’s mission is to make it easier for people to eat less meat and more plants; supplying frozen meals also reduce food waste.
During the pandemic, orders grew from 15,000 meals a week to 30,000. He hired 40 chefs who had lost their jobs in London restaurants that were forced to close. He now delivers more than 2 million meals to doorsteps nationwide and is supplying supermarket delivery company Ocado. allplants is also a certified B-Corp.
Before launching allplants, JP had tackled other socially important issues. He launched both Africa's first mobile bank for previously excluded customers, and Kenya's fastest growing retail healthcare chain, Penda Health which was named East Africa healthcare employer of the year, and makes high quality healthcare affordable for all.
Trevor
Pinnock cbe
2023 WINNER
Trevor Pinnock CBE
Trevor is renowned world-wide as a harpsichordist, conductor and pioneer in the modern revival of early music performance.
He was awarded the CBE in 1992 for services to music and was made an Officier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998.
In 1966 he co-founded the Galliard Harpsichord Trio with Stephen Preston and Anthony Pleeth. This expanded to become the English Consort in 1972 which he directed from the keyboard for the next 30 years, building the orchestra’s reputation for their performances on period instruments. In Leonard Bernstein’s words: "The work of the conductor Trevor Pinnock in this area is particularly exciting – his performances of Bach and Handel make me jump out of my seat!"
He is a former artistic director and principal conductor of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra; founded The Classical Band in New York; and is a frequent guest conductor with leading orchestras in the USA and Europe. Since leaving The English Concert in 2003, he has divided his work between conducting, solo and chamber music engagements and educational projects at the Royal Academy of Music where he is Principal Guest Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra.
He has won many awards for his performances including a Gramophone Award for his recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos with the European Brandenburg Ensemble.
professor Elio
Riboli
2023 WINNER
Professor Elio Riboli
Elio has made an exceptional impact on the fields of cancer prevention and the fight against chronic illness.
He is Head of the Division of Epidemiology, Public Health and Primary Care at Imperial College, London. During his career, he has conducted important research on the effect of alcohol, tobacco and occupational substances in causing cancers of the respiratory and upper intestinal tracts.
He set up and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC). He established the first dedicated large-scale biobanks for DNA and blood. This vision has provided an international resource for the investigation of metabolic and genetic factors in cancer and other diseases.
He has led vital research showing a major effect of abdominal obesity in colorectal cancer and early death.
During his time at the International Agency for Research on Cancer at the W.H.O., he carried out ground-breaking research on the role of diet, nutrition and metabolic health in cancer causation and prevention.
Elio has been elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his achievements in cancer epidemiology and public health. In 2018, he was made an Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy in recognition of his work to promote British-Italian relations in science, university teaching and research.
Robert
Rinder MBE
2023 WINNER
ROBERT RINDER MBE
Robert is perhaps best known as ‘Judge Rinder,’ who has presided over courtroom civil cases on ITV’s much-loved reality show since 2014.
In 2018, he traced his Jewish family’s tragic history in a must-see episode of the BBC’s genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? which made new discoveries about his grandfather Morris Malenicky, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps.
He followed this two years later with a BBC documentary My Family, the Holocaust and Me in which he and his mother helped Jewish families to discover the full truth about what happened to their relatives during the Holocaust.
The mini-series was highly acclaimed and was nominated for a Broadcasting Press Guild Award.
Alongside Judge Rinder, Rob has presented shows including Judge Rinder's Crime Stories, and a revamped version of Crown Court.
He has competed in Strictly Come Dancing, and appeared on Have I Got News for You among other shows.
Away from the screen, Rob has published Rinder Rules, a jargon-free, practical guide to the law, from divorce to consumer rights. He is also a newspaper columnist and remains a practising criminal law barrister.
Rebecca
Root
2023 WINNER
Rebecca Root
Rebecca is an English actor, comedian and voice coach who is blazing a trail in standing up for equal rights for the LGBT community. She is best known for playing the leading role in the 2015 BBC2 sitcom Boy Meets Girl, when she became the first trans actor to appear in a trans role in a British television comedy.
She has worked in a range of television and theatre productions, notably Keeping Up Appearances, Casualty, The Lady's Not For Burning and Hamlet.
As she neared the age of 30, she took a break from her performance career to transition to female. She also gained an MA in Voice Studies at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, with her thesis focusing on vocal adaptation for trans people.
In 2015, her acting breakthrough on Boy Meets Girl coincided with her feature film debut in The Danish Girl, opening more doors to her, including roles in Doctors, Colette, The Romanoffs and The Queen’s Gambit.
She is Patron of the charities Diversity Role Models and Liberate Jersey and is a passionate advocate for LGBT visibility, equal rights and societal acceptanc. She contributes regularly to news and current affairs programmes and in print and online news outlets. She has also delivered talks for the NHS and other organisations, raising awareness of and encouraging discourse with the trans community.
Anoushka
Shankar
2023 WINNER
Anoushka Shankar
World-famous sitar player Anoushka is a renowned musician, composer and activist.
Born in London, her childhood was divided between the UK, India and America. The daughter of Sukanya Shankar and Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, she began training on the sitar aged nine and gave her first public performance at 13.
By the age of 14 she was accompanying her father at performances around the world. She released her first album Anoushka in 1998, followed by Anourag in 2000.
Anoushka pushes boundaries with her music, just as she has by blazing a trail for women to play the sitar professionally, normally a male preserve in India. Increasing numbers of women in India are learning the instrument as a result of her influence.
She has enjoyed a successful touring career since she was 18, becoming known for her virtuosic yet emotional playing style, unusual instrumentation and precise rhythmic interplay.
She is the youngest and first female recipient of a UK House of Commons Shield and the first Indian musician to perform live or to be a presenter at the Grammy Awards with seven nominations under her belt.
Away from music, she is an activist working with multiple causes and charitable organisations, in particular supporting women and refugees.
Professor Graham
Shapiro
2023 WINNER
Professor Graham Shapiro
Graham is an award-winning designer, inventor and digital entrepreneur.
He founded his company, Graham Shapiro Design, in 1995 as a traditional graphic design business before moving into digital and new media. It has created online and offline designs for clients such as Fiat Chrysler, Philips, Siemens, Komatsu, Liverpool F.C, Rolex, Samsung and The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers; a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster; Ambassador of Innovation for the University of Cambridge; Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Chester; and a Freeman of The City of London.
Graham invented the Interloopmailer, an innovative interactive direct mailer, and the Reggie app, assisting teachers taking the student register.
He has won numerous design and business awards, including UK Technology Entrepreneur of the Year 2016; Finalist GB Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year 2017; a gold Stevie award as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018; and was a finalist in the Creative Entrepreneur of the Year category at both 2020 and 2022 Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
He also founded The Graham Shapiro Foundation, supporting mental health and wellbeing and inspiring innovation and young entrepreneurialism in the UK.
Simon
Nelson
2023 WINNER
Simon Nelson
Simon received the Queen’s Police Medal in the Queen’s Platinum Birthday Honours list to mark his profound impact representing the interests of disabled members of the Police Superintendent’s Association (PSA). He is also president of the national Disabled Police Association.
Simon was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2004 and underwent a full stomach removal in 2006. Despite this, he recovered and proceeded to work as a firearms commander and public order commander during his 29 year career in the Sussex Police. He has held challenging operational roles leading departments and change programmes with multimillion pound budgets as well as senior responsibilities for high level incidents and events.
Furthermore, since being elected as president of the Disabled Police Association, he has worked to support the police service on wider diversity, equality and inclusion issues. In this work he has helped shape the way the police service approaches key issues such as national fitness testing, performance regulations and disability discrimination issues.
The number of PSA members identifying as disabled has trebled since his appointment to his PSA role reflecting the confidence of his colleagues in his ability to perform his roles.
He also undertakes voluntary work; is a founding advisory board member for the charity Cancer Central UK and is an experienced coach and mentor.
Kevin
Sinfield obe
2023 WINNER
Kevin Sinfield OBE
Kevin is a highly regarded former professional rugby league player who spent his entire career with Leeds Rhinos winning 26 caps for England and 14 for Great Britain. Many would argue he is one of the greatest kickers in the game.
He has also been hugely successful in raising nearly £5 million in only two years to fight Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Kevin was awarded the MBE in 2014 for services to rugby league and the OBE in 2021 for services to rugby league and charitable fundraising. He was the first rugby league player to be nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, finishing second to Andy Murray in 2015.
Kevin was the Rhinos’ greatest captain in the club’s history, leading them to seven Grand Final triumphs and two Challenge Cup successes in an 18-year career. He is Leeds’ record points scorer, as well as the highest scorer in Super League and the third-highest points scorer in British rugby league history.
In 2019 his former teammate Rob Burrow was diagnosed with MND and subsequently, over two years, Kevin ran seven marathons in seven days; over 101 miles in 24 hours; and in November 2022, he completed seven ultra-marathons in seven days, all in aid of MND charities and hospitals treating the disease.
Mary-Kate
Slattery
2023 WINNER
Mary-Kate Slattery
Mary-Kate overcame the dark disease of anorexia to become a titles-winning amateur boxer and a top wellness role model for young people. She wields a powerful voice for demonstrating the link between good mental health and physical activity.
Mary-Kate developed anorexia at the age of 10 as a result of childhood trauma and fell seriously ill but eventually recovered after years of treatment. It was through the discovery of combat sports that she found a positive route to channel her energy. Three months after beginning to train at St. Michael's Boxing Club in Inchicore, she won her first Irish title.
She explains why boxing has been so life-changing for her:
"It gives me this ability to look at my body as worth more respect than just something that deserves to be beautiful or something that has to be presented in a certain way.”
She now describes herself as an amateur boxer and a wellness advocate and one of her roles is as ambassador for the Irish Life Health Schools’ Fitness Challenge which gives her a platform to talk to young people who are struggling with mental health. The Challenge highlights the importance of physical activity for better cardiovascular and mental health amongst young people which is so vital for their long-term physical and mental health.
Gareth
Stapleton
2023 WINNER
Gareth Stapleton
Gareth is an influencer fired by an overwhelming desire to do ten times better tomorrow.
By profession a chartered architect, project manager and management consultant, he is a uniquely talented polymath who has built an outstanding career in both the UK and abroad.
In the words of Jack Pringle, chairman of the Royal Institute of British Architects: “I have seen him as a professional leader of one of the finest firms practising project management in the UK. [He is] one of the most trusted people in his profession.”
And in the words of the judges of the Construction News Awards: “He is a true agent of industry change”.
Landmark projects with his consultancy RISE include:
- The Platinum Jubilee Tree of Trees
- The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre
- The Royal Opera House
- The Royal Academy of Music
- Amazon’s London HQ + 20 more commissions
He flies the flag for the UK on the world stage, including:
- Rescuing a $1 billion project for Apple
- Beating some of the world’s biggest companies to a contract on a $4.5 billion project in Bangkok
- Delivering the award-winning UK pavilion at the World Expo in Milan
Above all, he has an exceptional pro-bono record, dedicating more than £500,000 worth of work to make Britain a better place.
Sophia
Thakur
2023 WINNER
Sophia Thakur
Sophia is an award-winning performance poet and author. From the age of 16, she has been captivating audiences with her unique blend of poetry and music, sending powerful messages on mental health, diversity, self-expression and wellbeing.
Her innovative approach to poetry inspires audiences from the stage at Glastonbury to TED Talks and mainstream TV and radio shows. She has been invited by Google, Accenture, The Guardian, The Royal Family, the Lib Dems and Labour parties, among others, to participate in events in this country and has performed in India, Ghana, Denmark and the USA.
In 2019 after finishing a speaking tour across high-schools in Ghana, she returned to London to fill both OMEARA and The Jazz Café, merging the sounds of poetry with afrobeats, jazz, neo-soul and Colombian reggae.
Her debut book Somebody Give This Heart a Pen was described as “uplifting, brave and quietly devastating” by The Stylist and her latest book Superheroes about inspiring stories of secret strength went straight to the bestseller list after launching.
She has recently been named in Forbes’ 30 under 30 for Arts and Culture within Europe for 2022 and performances at MTV’s Black History Month series and Viacom’s International Women’s day campaign won a number of film awards.
Gareth
Thomas cbe
2023 WINNER
Gareth Thomas CBE
Gareth, nicknamed "Alfie", is one of the most respected figures in world rugby, having represented Wales in both rugby union and rugby league. He was the first Welsh player to reach 100 caps and captained Wales in 2005 to its first Grand Slam win in 27 years.
In 2009 he became famous for being the world’s most prominent athlete to come out as gay while still actively pursuing his career.
In 2020, Gareth was awarded the CBE for services to rugby and to health.
Gareth turned professional at the age of 20 in 1994, playing rugby union for his hometown, Bridgend and later for Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Toulouse and Cardiff Blues. His international career included captaining the British and Irish Lions in 2005.
After coming out in December 2009, he was voted the most influential gay person in the UK and received Stonewall’s Hero of the Year award. He is a strong supporter of the NSPCC, Childline and the Terence Higgins Trust. He has published two memoirs, Proud (2014), and Stronger (2021). In 2019 he made public that he was living with HIV.
Today he is a regular analyst for ITV Sport and also raises awareness around LGBTQ+ equality, mental health and tackling stigma around HIV.
Tiffany
Thorn
2023 WINNER
Tiffany Thorn
Tiffany is Founder and CEO of BiVictriX Therapeutics, a biotechnology company applying a novel approach to develop next generation cancer therapies using insights derived from frontline clinical experience.
Tiffany is one of the UK’s youngest CEOs of a publicly-listed company, having successfully listed the company on the AIM, London’s junior market, in November 2021.
She hails from Wigan and obtained a First Class honours degree in biochemistry and biomedicine from Lancaster University, followed by an MSc in Clinical Immunology from the University of Manchester. While working for the NHS as a clinical immunologist supporting the diagnosis of haematological malignancies, she was awarded the Chief Scientific Officer’s “Rising Star” award for her commitment to the delivery of healthcare.
This work also gave her the inspiration to start her own biotech company utilising Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) through her own proprietary platform known as Bi-Cygni for the treatment of various cancers including Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Tiffany has led BiVictriX since 2016 from its bases in Alderley Park, Cheshire and Wales.
She has been responsible for raising £10m in investment to date and has established a highly experienced scientific team at the company, significantly increasing the company’s internal capabilities and platform expertise.
Faye
Tomson
2023 WINNER
Faye Tomson
Faye is Founder and Director of the influential Tomson Consulting, advising on energy resource efficiency, low carbon energy and the circular economy, and District Eating, which develops horticulture projects that utilise waste heat and CO2 to maximise social benefit.
She holds a First-Class BEng (Hons) in Energy and Environmental Engineering, is a Chartered Energy Manager, and a Member of the Energy Institute as well as being an Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Lead Assessor, and a Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers Heat Networks Consultant.
Faye has over 15 years’ experience delivering energy management, renewable and district energy projects. She has built her reputation on stakeholder engagement, relationship building and developing novel business strategies, including the use of innovative funding mechanisms designed to tap into funds from investors in low-carbon projects.
Faye was raised on a farm in Yorkshire and believes we should be producing more food closer to home. District Eating is pioneering the exploitation of waste heat and CO2 for horticulture, encouraging the development of resilient localised food economies.
Clients include the Institute of Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield, for whom a feasibility study has been carried out to harness horticultural growing at scale with the Sheffield district heating grid.
In 2022 District Eating was shortlisted in the Green StartUp category of the National StartUp Awards.
Akhil
Tripathi
2023 WINNER
Akhil Tripathi
Akhil is an outstanding influencer – an inventor and entrepreneur who has created a medical device to transform the lives of hundreds of millions of people suffering from snoring and the debilitating condition of sleep apnoea.
He has assembled a world-class team of medical professionals and financial backers for his company, Signifier Medical Technologies, and is an exceptional ambassador for British ingenuity. To have achieved a global reputation at the age of 37 underlines how strong is his influence.
The eXciteOSA product that Akhil has developed is a true medical breakthrough. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a chronic disease with comorbidities including stroke, cardiovascular disease, insomnia, hypertension and motor-neurone disease.
Akhil’s simple solution is the first daytime treatment device for OSA, a revolutionary, disruptive, clinically proven therapy. The ability to improve the quality of life, sleep and relationships – and to reduce healthcare costs – for so many people is inspirational.
Thanks to eXciteOSA, 170,000 patients will be treated for OSA, breathing difficulties and sleep disorders in 2022 and 2023 alone. Akhil has raised £95m in investment, anticipates £85m sales by 2025 and has created 172 jobs in the UK, Switzerland and the US.
Kwajo
Tweneboa
2023 WINNER
Kwajo Tweneboa
Social housing campaigner Kwajo has been featured in The Big Issue’s list of top 100 Changemakers for his work highlighting appalling living conditions of some housing tenants in the UK.
He has also been awarded the prestigious Sheila McKechnie Young Campaigner Award for his tireless work exposing the squalid conditions that some social housing tenants endure across Britain.
He has used social media to share videos of tenants who live in inhumane homes with disrepair, damp, mould, mice and broken toilets.
Many have gone viral, shaming landlords into carrying out urgently needed repairs or prompting authorities to move to the family to new accommodation.
The activist, in his early 20s, began campaigning after living in a flat on an estate in Mitcham, South London, that was in severe disrepair, impacting the health of his seriously ill father.
As a result of his campaign, the landlord undertook over 600 repairs on the estate including 24 new kitchens and bathrooms.
His campaigning has come to the attention of senior politicians and he has met Secretary of State Michael Gove and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. TV’s Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett is among donors supporting his work.
Jayant S
Vaidya
2023 WINNER
Professor Jayant S Vaidya
Jayant is Professor of Surgery and Oncology at University College London and a Consultant Surgeon specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the breast. He was instrumental in developing a revolutionary treatment which has successfully treated 20,000 breast cancer patients across the globe.
He has focused his research over the past twenty years on improving the treatment of breast cancer, authoring over 300 scientific publications, including journal articles, books, and conference papers.
In the early 2000s Jayant, together with Professor Michael Baum and Professor Jeffrey Tobias, developed the technique called targeted intra-operative radiotherapy (TARGIT) to treat breast cancer, delivering single-dose radiotherapy from inside the body via a small ball-shaped device, placed inside the breast immediately after removal of the tumour. The treatment takes 20-30 minutes, compared with conventional radio therapy taking 3-6 weeks of daily treatments.
He has been invited to give over 150 talks, mainly on breast cancer in scientific conferences, including at the British Association of Surgical Oncologists, European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC), European Cancer Conference (ECCO) and the American Society of Breast Surgeons.
He is regularly called upon for his expert knowledge by the BBC and has been featured in Time magazine and Reader’s Digest.
Emilie
Vanpoperinghe
2023 WINNER
Emilie Vanpoperinghe
Emilie runs a social enterprise tackling food waste and helping people reduce their impact on the planet with London's first wonky veg box subscription scheme. She co-founded and is CEO of Oddbox, which delivers boxes of misshapen fruit and veg to be sold in supermarkets.
She started Oddbox in 2016 after discovering that over three million tonnes of food waste is generated every year in the UK before it leaves the farm. Her team works closely with farmers, rescuing fresh, seasonal surplus fruit and veg which are at risk of contributing to this food waste mountain.
Oddbox delivers the boxes to homes and offices for 30% cheaper than similar box services and donates its own excess produce to charities fighting food poverty such as FareShare, and City Harvest and the Felix Project.
In 2020 Oddbox obtained certified B Corp status. In 2021, Emilie was overall winner on the LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders programme. In 2022, Oddbox was awarded Start Up of the Year at SOMO2022, the social mobility awards.
Prior to starting Oddbox, she was Director of Finance and Operations for an international NGO empowering adolescent girls in developing countries to reach their potential. Before that, she worked for 10 years in finance in the corporate sector in France, India and the UK.
She is also a trustee of Fitzrovia Youth in Action, Camden’s youth action charity.
Sonja
Vernes
2023 WINNER
Sonja Vernes
Sonja is a global expert in the study of the genetics of vocal communication in mammals as a way to understand the evolution and biological basis of human speech and language. This will have huge benefits for people with severe speech disorders.
She leads the Neurogenetics of Vocal Communication Research Group at St Andrews University. She has been recognised with a prestigious Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists for her ground-breaking investigations into the evolutionary and biological bases of speech and language, using bats as a model.
The capacity of humans to communicate using speech and language has captivated scholars for centuries. However, the uniqueness and complexity of human language can make it difficult to study, especially at the biological level. Luckily, humans share certain features of communication with other mammals.
By studying vocal learning in bats, she is providing new insight into how genes and neural circuits affect vocal communication in mammals and speech in humans, how these traits evolved, and the connection between specific genes and severe speech disorders in humans.
Sonja is also a founding director of Bat1K, a global research consortium which aims to collect genomic data for all living bat species.
Chloe
Volz
2023 WINNER
Chloë Volz
Chloë has improved the lives of many young people with the most severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and their families.
She is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and overall Team Lead of the Children and Adult Mental Health (CAMHS) OCD and Related Disorders Service where she works with some of the hardest to treat young people.
What makes her approach stand out is that she supports parents through the treatment process. She is also pioneering Multi-Family Therapy group work with families of young people with OCD to enhance the CBT which the clinic offers.
Her personal research interest is in unusual and/or complex presentations of OCD and thinking about the implication for assessment, diagnosis and treatment of these cases.
Chloë is a member of the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP). She is also a member of the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), where she has run masterclasses in the treatment of OCD. She has taught and trained nationally and internationally.
Chloë is a trustee on the board of OCD Action, a national OCD charity where she uses her extensive experience in the field to help to form future strategy and developments.
Elaine
Warburton obe
2023 WINNER
Elaine Warburton OBE
Elaine is a healthcare and biotechnology entrepreneur. She has over 25 years’ healthcare and biotechnology experience with a background in nursing, genetics, accounting and running hospitals.
She founded a pioneering British life sciences company QuantuMDx Group. The company has excelled in medical innovation, developing a low-cost handheld molecular lab with inbuilt DNA sequencing to address humanitarian health challenges. It can detect and track emerging pandemics in real-time across developing and developed nations.
This is revolutionary as less developed countries do not have access to DNA analysis through lack of stable electricity for a temperature-controlled environment and the skills needed to run the tests. The handheld device is battery-run, and is intuitive to use, which avoids these issues. It can give a result in a remarkable ten to twenty minutes.
DNA analysis is vital to discover, to give just one example, what hereditary mutations are causing a family’s cancer.
Elaine was awarded an OBE in the 2014 Queen’s New Year Honours for services to Innovation in Healthcare. She was also recognised as one of the top 50 women in tech in Europe through the InspiringFifty Europe 2022 Award, a global initiative to increase diversity in tech by recognising and amplifying the women excelling in STEM across the world.
Jackie
Waring
2023 WINNER
Jackie Waring
Jackie is an expert in the investment community in Scotland across a wide range of sectors who has enabled thousands of women to launch their own businesses. She is founder and chair of AccelerateHER, an organisation that supports female business owners to launch and grow.
She has a wealth of experience in helping innovative female founders to scale up their businesses and reach their full investment potential.
In 2013 she also pioneered Scotland’s first all-female angel investment syndicate, Investing Women Angels (IWA), to boost gender diversity in the thriving angel ecosystem in Scotland. Since 2015, when IWA began investing, the number of female investors has increased six times.
In October 2022, Jackie was appointed as a non-executive director of CPI, a social enterprise and innovation catalyst for the adoption of tech and manufacturing solutions. She is helping CPI build a diverse social enterprise that supports industry, founders, and academia to deliver innovations and advanced manufacturing solutions that make our world a better place.
Jackie has previously run three companies, been an external policy advisor to government on access to finance for women entrepreneurs and was the first UK Advisory Board Member to the Global Banking Alliance for Women in Washington DC.
professor Jonathan
Waxman
2023 WINNER
Professor Jonathan Waxman
Jonathan is the founder and president of what is now Prostate Cancer UK. In 1996, he established The Prostate Cancer Charity, the first United Kingdom national organisation promoting research and patient support for prostate cancer.
The organisation has since merged with Prostate Action, becoming Prostate Cancer UK, the biggest organisation of its kind in the UK. The charity lobbies for change for prostate cancer patients, funds research and provides a national and regional patient support and information service. In 2021, the charity funded a study investigating why black men are twice as likely as other men to develop prostate cancer.
Jonathan has been the Flow Foundation Professor of Oncology at Imperial College London since 2011. He established a clinical and laboratory research programme there, leading a laboratory research team tasked with understanding the mechanisms underlying the growth of prostate cancer. He continued to carry out clinical duties.
Jonathan helped establish the All-party Parliamentary Group on Cancer, the organisation behind the Britain Against Cancer movement.
He has published around 400 research papers and book chapters, and 16 books on cancer. He has also written a medical law book, a novel and a book of short stories entitled The Elephant in the Room, published in October 2011.
Scarlett
Westbrook
2023 WINNER
Scarlett Westbrook
Scarlett is a British climate activist, the youngest ever policy maker and a coordinator and head of political engagement for Teach The Future, a youth-led campaign that aims to transform education around the climate emergency and ecological crisis.
She joined the climate movement aged 10 and became the youngest person to pass an A level in government and politics at just 13.
As part of her work with Teach The Future, Scarlett co-authored a bill – the English Climate Emergency Education Act - with Labour MP Nadia Whittome on transforming climate education, and is regarded as the youngest policy writer in the world.
As a coordinator and spokesperson for the UK Student Climate Network, Scarlett organised student climate strikes in 2019 when 7.6 million global students missed Friday classes and demanded change.
She has spoken at the European Parliament and Westminster and won a number of awards including a Women of the Future Young Star award in 2020 and a Diana Award in 2021. She attended COP26 in Glasgow and, following this she wrote an opinion article for the Independent and has been profiled in the Evening Standard and Observer.
Scarlett is now planning to study medicine at university.
Dame Sharon
White
2023 WINNER
Dame Sharon White
Dame Sharon is the first ever female chair of John Lewis Partnership having previously made history as the first woman – and first black person – to be Chief Executive of the media regulator Ofcom.
Prior to these roles, she had a stellar career in the civil service, rising to become a Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, the first black person to hold the position and only the second woman in the role.
Born in East London and brought up in Leyton, Dame Sharon’s parents had emigrated to the UK from Jamaica in the 1950s as part of the Windrush generation.
After attending Cambridge and earning an MSc in economics from University College London, she worked for a church in Birmingham before joining the civil service in 1989. Dame Sharon worked first at the Treasury before joining the British Embassy in Washington.
Her career has also included spells at the 10 Downing Street policy unit during the Blair government, the World Bank and as Director General at the Department for International Development (2003 to 2009), and then at the Ministry of Justice (2009 to 2011), and also at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Joe
Wicks mbe
2023 WINNER
Joe Wicks MBE
Joe is the familiar face who helped countless people during the pandemic lockdowns to brighten up their lives and keep fit with his exercise regimes.
His daily PE with Joe livestreams on YouTube during lockdowns encouraged participants to stay active and was viewed by over a million users worldwide. He won a Guinness World Record for "most viewers for a fitness workout livestream on YouTube", after achieving over 950,000 viewers on the second livestream on 24th March 2020. He was subsequently awarded the MBE for services to fitness and charity in 2022.
He began his rise to fame when he posted 15-second recipe videos on social media, growing his brand to become one of the most followed fitness accounts on Instagram and YouTube, using High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts. He has also become a best-selling author and published 11 cookbooks, combining recipes with workouts.
In November 2020, Joe completed a 24-hour workout challenge which raised over £2 million for Children in Need. In June 2021, he became Patron of The Amber Foundation, a youth homeless charity. In 2022 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Science by his alma mater, St Mary's University, Twickenham.
Rui
Xu
WINNER
RUI XU
Rui is the founder of FreshTag and a winner of Innovate UK Young Innovator Award for an invention which could change the world. Her breakthrough idea will allow consumers to see at a glance whether the food they buy is safe to eat.
Rui’s motivation is her dislike of food going to waste and the ruinous environmental damage that occurs through the carbon emissions released during the manufacturing and farming processes.
In the course of graduating with a Fashion and Smart Textiles degree from the Royal College of Art (RCA), Rui’s idea to change from the generic 'best before' and 'use by' dating mechanism to a more adaptable and dynamic monitoring system began to take shape.
FreshTag is now developing a sustainably produced packaging solution to eliminate food waste and reduce consumer dependence on plastic-based films and packaging and unreliable “Use-by” dates. The tool she is working on will offer information about the food and environmental conditions in real-time, detecting and indicating food freshness. The mechanism of the technology lies behind a special ink that changes colour in the presence of ammonia and carbon dioxide using inkjet printing technology.
This materials designer and entrepreneur set up FreshTag in 2019 and is currently working on bringing into effect legislation that allows FreshTag to operate in the market as an aid to the existing date code system.
Mel
Young MBE
2023 WINNER
Mel Young MBE
Mel was awarded an MBE in 2017 for his significant contribution to sport and social entrepreneurship. This social entrepreneur, writer and campaigner for social change, believes passionately that homelessness around the world can be ended.
He is President of the Homeless World Cup, which he co-founded in 2003. Under his leadership, the organisation has expanded all over the world, organising 17 annual events since 2003 with partners in 75 countries, and touching the lives of over 100,000 homeless people every year.
He is Chairman of Sportscotland, the national agency for sport in Scotland. He loves sport and is a firm believer in the power of sport to create positive change.
He is a writer, blogger and speaker, about social innovation and the power to make change. He co-founded The Big Issue in Scotland and is the former President of the International Network of Street Papers which he co-founded.
He was also co-founder of Senscot (Social Entrepreneurs Network Scotland). He has been a Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum since 2001 and was named a Senior Fellow by Ashoka in 2014. He has five honorary degrees from Scottish universities and was awarded the prestigious Jackie Robinson Humanitarian Award from the United States Sports Academy in 2016.
