A mix of established names and rising stars have been named as regional finalists in the 2026 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
A total of 110 entrepreneurs from 90 companies have made the list across five regions: London, South, Midlands, North and Scotland.
They include Marisa Poster, Teddie Levenfiche and Levi Levenfiche, co-founders of viral matcha brand PerfectTed, which has been backed by Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett.
Peter Cliff and Jos van der Steen, co-founders of Manchester-based CONDUCTR, have also made the list. The startup has grown turnover to £26m and staff numbers to 100 in four years, and Cliff and van der Steen recently shared their story on The Naked Founder podcast.
Amy Knight, founder of Must Have Ideas, has reached the regional finals in the South. She launched one of the UK’s fastest-growing ecommerce retailers in 2018, and it now serves more than 10 million customers.
The UK finalists will be announced in October, with the awards evening taking place in November.
Last year’s UK winner was GLAS founder Mia Drennan, who will represent the UK at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year later this month.
The full list of regional finalists is below.
London
- 1. Olivia Ferdi & Daniel Khoury, co-founders, Trip Drink
- 2. Ola Oyetayo, co-founder and CEO, Verto
- 3. Jade Goulden & Grant Goulden, Jaded London
- 4. Mark Rushmore & Gyve Safavi, co-founders, SURI
- 5. Paul Ruddick, chairman, Reds10
- 6. Tom Stephens, CEO, Techary
- 7. Gian Maria & Luca Cartechini, co-founders, Shop Circle
- 8. Tom Leathes & Harry Jones, co-founders, Motorway Online
- 9. Martin Taylor, CEO, First Intuition
- 10. Lestat McCree, CEO and co-founder, Healf
- 11.Oliver Mernick-Levene, co-founder and executive director, Essor (trading as Secret Food Tours)
- 12. Ben Richmond, founder and CEO, CUBE
- 13. Steve Moore, founder and CEO, Red Engine
- 14. Oana Jinga, Andrei Danescu & Adrian Negoita, co-founders, Dexory
- 15. Margo Polishchuk, co-founder and president, proSapient
- 16. Justin Basini, co-founder and group CEO, The ClearScore Group (trading as Credit Laser Holdings)
- 17. Sam Hart, CEO, Harts Group
- 18. Babek Ismayil, founder and CEO, OneDome
- 19. Olly Sloboda, co-founder and CEO, Zero100
- 20. Marisa Poster, Teddie Levenfiche & Levi Levenfiche, co-founders, PerfectTed
- 21. Pip Murray, founder and CEO, Pip & Nut
Midlands
- 22. Sean Reddington, founder and CEO, Thrive Learning
- 23. Baoli Zhao, founder and managing director, Allsee Technologies
- 24. John Southall, director, Opus Safety
- 25. Ben Harwood, CEO, Cornerstone Group Holdings (trading as Naismiths)
- 26. Toby Harper, founder and CEO, Harper James
- 27. Dean Willshee, managing director, Willshee’s Waste & Recycling
- 28. Lukas Schlenker, director, Pace Group Holding
- 29. Amy Bird, CEO, Countrywide Metals
- 30. Kavita Parmar, co-founder, Word360
- 31. Steve Miller, The Workplace Depot
- 32. Naz Nathani, director, Macc Care Group
- 33. Helen Stokes, CEO, Eden Futures Topco
- 34. Michael Harris, CEO, Biocomposites
- 35. Sarah Mackenzie, CEO, Storal
- 36. Jim Herbert, CEO, Patchwork Media
North
- 37. Christopher Hartley, CEO, Custodia Technology Group
- 38. Anthony Thompson, founder and CEO, Thompsons Academy (trading as Navigators)
- 39. Jonathan Wogel, CEO, North West Custodia E-Health
- 40. Gavin Hepburn, CEO, Dale Power Solutions
- 41. Jos van der Steen & Peter Cliff, co-founders, CONDUCTR
- 42. Shaun Young & Rebecca Young, co-founders, The Estate Dairy
- 43. Brendan Doherty, CEO, Intellica
- 44. Craig Smith, group managing director, ICT Reverse / Mazuma Mobile
- 45. Heather Staff & Tom Staff, co-founders, Street Group
- 46. James Jackson, CEO and co-founder, Bumper International
- 47. Garry Partington, CEO and co-founder, Apadmi
- 48. Mark Edmondson, CEO, Inflo Group
- 49. Stephen Cann, director, Bollin Group
- 50. Robin Garbutt & Patrick Doyle, Lunar Digital Solutions
- 51. Hira Malik & Bilal Al-Sheikh Hussain, co-founders, Oushk Pharmacy
- 52. Mike Smith, managing director, Speedy Freight
- 53. Mark Parkes, executive chairman, Bostonair Group
- 54. Sam Lenehan & Andrew Trotman, CEO and founder, KOMI Group
- 55. Radoslaw Janiak, CEO, FUTUREMEDS
- 56. Paul Bullen, managing director, The Bullen Healthcare Group
Scotland
- 57. Jack Benson, commercial director, Fusebox
- 58. Derek J McNab, CEO, Arthian
- 59. Les McAndrew & Calum Campbell, Graham + Sibbald
- 60. Craig Letton, CEO, hyble
- 61. Teddy Lee, founder and CEO, Maki & Ramen
- 62. Derek Smith, CEO and founder, Maritime Developments
- 63. Dave Weidner, CEO, Pelion
- 64. Stephen Slessor, CEO, Ross-Shire Engineering (RSE)
- 65. Ryan Clark, founder and CEO, Safer Group
- 66. David Ferguson, executive chair, Seccl Technology
- 67. Addy Mohammed, co-founder and CEO, Simple Online
- 68. Mark Rushton & Arrash Nekonam, STC INSISO (trading as Comet)
- 69. Ross McNairn, CEO, Wordsmith.ai
- 70. Colin McCreadie, managing director, Podfather
- 71. David Hunter, CEO and founder, Shot Scope
- 72. Adam Hunter, CEO, Phlo Technologies
South
Amy Knight, founder and director of Must Have Ideas
- 73. John Feddersen, founder and CEO, Aurora Energy Research
- 74. Matt Barker, CEO, MPB Group
- 75. Jordan Connachie, managing director, Kori Construction
- 76. Barney Guthrie & Adrian Clarke, Clinical Partners
- 77. Amy Knight, founder and director, Must Have Ideas
- 78. Arjun Sofat & Rohini Sofat, co-founders, Free Soul
- 79. Adam Woodley, founder and CEO, Sinewave Energy Solutions
- 80. Ian Murphy, co-founder and director, Redtail Telematics
- 81. Aleksandra Maria Wlodek, CEO, Constructive Biology
- 82. Manjinder Singh Dale, Quantum Technology
- 83. James Noble, CEO and founder, Myfirst
- 84. Martin Neale, founder and CEO, ICS.AI
- 85. Nick Kleiner, owner, Sandwich Sandwich
- 86. Andrew Kays & Jamie Brummell, CEO and founder, Socura
- 87. Mark Sweeny, founder and CEO, de Novo Consulting
- 88. Joe Wille, founder, The Packaging Club
- 89. Georgina Nelson, founder and CEO, TruRating
- 90. Alison Wells, CEO, Ocean Geophysics