Founders: Gérard Jones
Website: www.gerardschooloffootball.co.uk

Enterprise UK ambassador Gérard set up his football academy with his father Bryn while still studying for his degree in sports coaching. Offering young players an alterative to the FA system of player development, the Hull-based centre has already secured a partnership with Arsenal FC. The school offers young players a variety of group and individual training programmes and also works with local schools. Not content with just running the school however, Gérard has plans to become the England manager one day.

Founder: Mike Woods
Website: www.justlovefoodcompany.com

The Just Love Food Company produces a range of allergy safe nut free celebration cakes which are currently stocked in Sainsburys stores across the UK. Mike, who has worked in the food production industry for the past 20 years, launched his own range of cakes after becoming frustrated at the lack of guaranteed nut-free options to buy his own children who both suffer from severe nut allergies. All the cake ingredients are sourced from completely nut-free sites and Mike regularly visits all his suppliers to make sure they’re up to scratch.

Founder: Katherine Sparkes
Website: www.flamingo-creative.co.uk

Flamingo Creative matches charities in need with companies wishing to introduce corporate social responsibility initiatives within their organisations. It focuses on community initiatives which vary from local projects such making over rundown village halls to international missions. Flamingo’s combination of PR and team building focus has allowed it to grow quickly and attract a diverse range of clients.

Founders: Joshua Magidson and Ed Green
Website: www.eatstudent.co.uk

Eatstudent.co.uk is an online take-away / food delivery service for students. Local eateries advertise their menus through the websites and payments can then be taken online. After ordering, students can post reviews, or save their favourite dish to make reordering a lot quicker next time. The service currently operates around six universities in England, but Joshua an Ed are hoping to have a strong presence in all the UK’s big university towns within the next few years.

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Founder: Rizwan Qureshi
Website: www.surgins.co.uk

Surgins Surgical provides Stainless-steel and Titanium surgical instruments. The founding team are a group of British surgeons who recognised the need for a quality British platform which offered surgical buyers an alternative to an industry dominated by American and German companies. Working within the sector themselves, they were acutely aware of surgeons’ own role in developing and designing the instruments they use. As a result, they created a platform to encourage and improve research and development.

Founders: Anna Bance and Xavier de Lecaros-Aquise
Website: www.girlmeetsdress.com

Anna’s background in fashion magazines, celebrity styling and fashion PR, where she was involved in borrowing and lending collections for fashion shoots and celebrities, sparked the idea for Girl Meets Dress. Xavier, with a career in investment banking and a catering start-up behind him, adds business acumen to fashion flair. The company’s premise is that every woman should have the option and freedom to borrow a fabulous dress for a party instead of buying something they’ll only wear once. Girl Meets Dress was launched in January 2009 and looks set to conquer the women’s wear hire market.

Founder: Barak Rabinowitz
Website: www.amuso.com

Inspired by the massive popularity of TV quiz shows such as The Weakest Link and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Barak founded Amuso in August 2007. With a background in business strategy and development working for companies including Morgan Stanley, Sony and Yahoo!, his idea was to take quiz formats online and produce live, multiplayer trivia prize shows for web and mobile distribution. With commercial partners including Time Warner, Viacom and Newscorp distributing the games to engage and monetise audiences, Amuso has hit its stride, with a combined reach of some 25 million users.

Founder: Leo Bedford
Website: www.yu-foria.com

Yu-foria sells fat-free frozen yoghurt from its outlets in Covent Garden and Soho. Founder Leo took the concept from an existing American model and with the help of several loans set up the Covent Garden site in 2009. The company isn’t Leo’s first business either. He also set up events company Itchy Feet which runs club nights around the country. Leo says the biggest challenge he’s faced while setting up his businesses is lack of experience but says he’s enjoyed learning as he goes. The ultimate goal now is to grow the Yu-foria brand and one day own a huge skyscraper!

Founder: Ollie McGovern
Website: www.simeio.co.uk

Simeio, the trading name of Intelligent Tools Ltd, launched in October 2009. A mobile, biometric personnel management system, the system accurately records time and attendance information in real-time. The owner of a construction company, Ollie felt vulnerable regarding health and safety legislation and labour management, so he came up with the Simeio system to do away with the risk of records manipulation. The breakthrough moment came when Simeio won a tender for a project with one of the UK’s leading building contractors.

Founder: Sue Acton
Website: www.bubbleandbalm.co.uk

Launched in June 2009, Bubble & Balm produces a range of FairTrade beauty and cosmetic products. Founder Sue took the plunge after being made redundant and finally fulfilled her lifelong ambition to start her own business. 2010 saw the range of products launch in supermarket chain Waitrose, much to the delight of Sue. Another highlight of the company’s first year was winning a £10,000 grant from BT Business which enabled the launch of Bubble & Balm’s liquid soap range.