Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2014: Meet the finalists

Many successful entrepreneurs start businesses in sectors they have had many years’ experience in as an employee; with knowledge of business and the ins and outs of their particular sector, many of the unknowns of starting up are reduced. Take this into context and the achievements of young entrepreneurs are even more impressive.

Some barely out of their teens, our young contenders for this award may not be the most experienced, but have started businesses with exciting propositions, excellent growth, or enormous potential regardless.

The finalists

Beer52

24-year-old James Brown started his own craft beer club after discovering Europe’s best beers on an epic motorcycle tour of Europe, with a vision for sharing the “best damn beers on the planet” through a close-knit digital community. Now claiming to be the most popular club of its kind in the UK, the company has already broken the £1m turnover barrier – with £100,000 Angels Den crowdfunding set to fuel further growth.

Read the full Beer52 profile here.

E-Finity Leads

Whilst the 31- and 34-year-old founders of this lead generation business admit that lead generation as a business proposition will never be the most glamorous, the impressive growth of their business certainly is. With an appealing return-on-investment model ensuring their clients only pay if they make money, the already-profitable start-up has facilitated 120,000 leads across 23 products, carving a swathe of innovation across a mostly static sector.

Read the full E-Finity Leads profile here.

GPS Locums

The three founders of this medical recruitment agency are all under 35, but have managed to create a business with enormous potential, with GPS Locums rising to become one of the NHS’ key locum doctor suppliers across just two years of existence. Now facilitating more than 800,000 hours of work a year for its growing community of locum medical professionals, demand for its service shows no signs of slowing.

Read the full GPS Locums profile here.

The judges

Laura Tenison MBE of Jojo Maman Bebe heads up this impressive panel of judges, all of whom will be well placed to assess which of our young entrepreneurs deserves this year’s gong.