Holly Tucker, 31
Company: notonthehighstreet.com
Web: www.notonthehighstreet.com
Independent retailers often struggle to find a good spot in busy shopping areas, but thanks to notonthehighstreet.com, this is becoming less of a problem. The site showcases the wares of 800 small businesses in the UK. Set up by Tucker and co-founder Sophie Cornish, 42, it gives independent retailers a means of selling to a national customer base, while consumers can select products from any number of partners in a single transaction. Partners pay a highly competitive membership fee of around £500, and the site takes around 25% of each sale. With those featured selling everything from fashion to homeware, turnover has rocketed from £100,000 in 2006 to an anticipated £3.7m this year. The duo have now secured over £1.5m from Spark Ventures and Venrex LLP to develop their technology and fund their highly popular 128-page catalogues.