It’s time to meet the Class of 2007. This year’s bright young things have truly surpassed our expectations. They ooze talent, they radiate success, and together they’re changing the face of UK entrepreneurship

TOP GUN 2007: Tom Allason, 26
Company: eCourier
Web: www.ecourier.co.uk
Focus: Same day couriers

Fuelled by frustration when a courier lost 10 tickets, our inaugural Top Gun Allason soon discovered that the £1bn UK market was under-served and fragmented, with the largest player owning a single-digit share. Realising that having people assigning couriers to jobs was an ineffi cient model, Allason and business partner Jay Bregman hired a team to build “an ultra-smart computer”. AIBA (advanced information-based allocation) was born.
The system – which removes the need for human allocation of bookings – connects with couriers’ mobile GPS units, which feed back their exact locations every 15 seconds. It knows everything that could impact on delivery time, such as weather, traffic, and even customer-type, and picks the most suitable driver for the job. It then compares the actual delivery time with its estimation and gets smarter, giving a better and better service.
The business has raised £8m and acquisitive growth is just one aspect of its ambitious expansion strategy, which should vastly increase the firm’s £7.2m turnover. Others include its recent journey into new markets, such as food delivery, and international expansion.

Matthew Stevenson, 31
Company: Reef One
Web: www.reef-one.com
Focus: Aquatic products manufacturer

Product design and marketing graduate Matthew Stevenson set up Reef One with his father in 1999 after creating an ultra-stylish fishbowl with a unique fi ltration system. The company has since sold 500,000 of its flagship product, the Biorb, alongside a number of new offerings, many of which are world firsts. Completely self-funded, the £4.5m turnover fi rm has sales offices in Paris and LA, sells its products through distributors in 15 countries and is increasingly attracting larger retailers such as Argos and Pets at Home. Stevenson promises new products and further international expansion in the months to come.

Gemma Bertenshaw, 29
Company: Qdos Developments
Web: www.qdosdevelopments.com
Focus: Property development

Having established an impressive rental and development portfolio, Bertenshaw teamed up with entrepreneur Howard Bilton, founder of the American Golf Discount chain, after they met through a mutual friend. In 2006 they formed luxury property brand Qdos. They have since bid successfully in a number of competitive land auctions. As a result, their portfolio comprises eight prime sites in the North West, one of which will house a £4m chateau. With price tags ranging from £1.75m-£5m, turnover will hit £7m after 18 months, £15m by 2009. Two properties were recently sold to a premiership footballer.

Rob Small, 31
Company: Miniclip
Web: www.miniclip.com
Focus: Online gaming

After Facebook, Miniclip.com is the largest privately held website in the world, with 36 million users. Rob Small created the online gaming site six years ago, turning it into a worldwide smash hit with a Dancing Bush game depicting the US president. With around 400, mainly free, games to date and a user-base to drool over, advertisers have fl ocked. It also creates games for clients and licenses brand names and games to other sites. Since year two the company’s been in profit. Turnover was £12m last year and should double in 2007. Now watch it go truly global.

Scott Davies, 33
Company: Million-2-1
Web: www.million21.com
Focus: Mobile gaming

The spotlight falling on this industry since the competition phone-ins controversy is unlikely to affect Manchester-based Million-2-1, which has a lottery licence from the Gambling Commission. Its white-label technology for interactive lottery, competition and gaming promises a complete audit trail of entries, a guaranteed winner, and billing only for those who enter within the allotted time. The company raised £3m last year and its £4.5m projected turnover for 2007 could rocket, with legal changes creating a barrier to entry into the market. No wonder UTV, LBC, O2 and Barcrest have beaten a path to its door.

Haani Ul Hasnain, 29
Company: Haani Cables
Web: www.haanicables.co.uk
Focus: Manufacturing

Rocket scientist to entrepreneur isn’t a leap many tend to make. But Aerospace Engineering graduate Haani Ul Hasnain has bucked the trend. Following a change in career plans, Hasnain joined his father’s cable manufacturing firm after leaving university, and spent six years working his way up while honing his leadership skills studying part-time for an MBA. Now in his third year as CEO, he has reinvented the company, streamlining processes, reinvesting £3.5m, doubling turnover and growing it from 40 to 130 staff. The Hartlepool-based fi rm now exports to 30 countries worldwide.

Ben Way, 27
Company: The Rainmakers, Brightstation Ventures, ViaPost, The Horsesmouth
Web: www.makingrain.com, www.brightstation.com, www.viapost.com  
Focus: Various

Serial entrepreneur and technical whiz-kid Ben Way has set up a string of businesses, was on the Sunday Times Rich List at 19, has advised the White House on 3G technology, was crowned Entrepreneur of the Year by Gordon Brown, was the technical architect for social mentoring charity The Horsesmouth and sits on the $100m Brightstation Ventures fund for tech startups. His consulting and corporate venturing business, The Rainmakers, holds equity stakes worth around £10m, and Way is now gunning for a piece of the £4.5bn postal market with new venture ViaPost, an effi cient and eco-friendly postal service. “It’s by far the biggest project I’ve ever worked on”, he says.

Alexander Amosu, 32
Company: Amosu Luxury Phones, Mobscasino.tv, Mind of an Entrepreneur
Web: www.amosu.co.uk, www.moae.co.uk, www.mobscasino.tv
Focus: Mobile phones

Serial entrepreneur, columnist, TV presenter and DJ Alexander Amosu sold his first business, £6m-turnover RnB Ringtones, in 2004. His latest offering, Amosu Luxury Phones, is rivalling Vertu in the luxury mobile phone market, with price tags for diamond-encrusted handsets ranging from £5,000 to £1m. Currently customising phones already in the market, it will soon launch its own brand and turnover looks set to rocket to £4-£5m next year. His charity project, Mind of an Entrepreneur, organises events to encourage entrepreneurship and has drawn a number of high profi le speakers, such as Cobra Beer founder Lord Bilimoria and Yo! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe.

Matthew Riley, 33
Company: Daisy Communications
Web: www.daisycommunications.co.uk
Focus: Communications for SMBs

Walking into Daisy’s purpose-built 20,000 sq ft offices for the first time three years ago was Riley’s proudest moment. Now firmly established as a one-stop provider of communications to more than 22,000 small and growing businesses by undercutting BT, this six-year-old Lancs-based business recorded a £23.6m turnover to 2007. Expect that fi gure to be £39.2m to 2008, £48.7m in 2009 and £100m the year after if all goes to plan. And what’s more he wholly owns the 136-person business, having used bank debt to fund 14 acquisitions. Turning green yet? The serial entrepreneur is not taking his foot off the gas though, and talking of green, the company’s just started e-billing to reduce its carbon footprint. Unsurprisingly, Riley was crowned Ernst & Young’s northern Entrepreneur of the Year.

Jerome Touze, 27
Company: Where Are You Now (WAYN)
Web: www.wayn.com
Focus: Social network

Touze and Peter Ward launched travellers’ social network site WAYN with £10,000 from Friends Reunited founder Stephen Pankhurst. It now has $11m institutional backing and Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman is both an investor and company chairman. With nine million users, last year’s turnover was £1m, and revenue is growing by 20% a month.