Winner
Sofia Fominova
Marketing Management MSc, 2017 and Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Enterprise Development MSc, 2018
Sofia is Co-Founder of Net0, a carbon management platform that helps businesses and governments transition to net zero. Sofia oversees marketing, sales and business development, and with her sales team has recently signed up over 15 customers across various industries. Net0 has signed an agreement with the Swiss Government to subsidise the platform cost for all Swiss companies, and the Indian city of Pune is going carbon neutral with the assistance of Net0’s technology.
Sofia has also built a platform that helps businesses increase transparency across their supply chains (Supertrace.com) and a platform that empowers businesses to find sustainable, carbon neural suppliers and vendors (GreenVendor). Sofia has received an award from the Worshipful Company of Marketors for her research, and she was recognised as one of the ‘10 Most Influential Businesswomen’ by Insights Success Magazine.
Finalists
Graham Hobson
Computer Science BSc, 1986
Graham started his career in the finance sector, working for the London Stock Exchange, Baring Securities, Union Bank of Switzerland and Merrill Lynch. In 1999 he bought a digital camera and discovered there was nowhere to get high quality photographic prints. He wrote a business plan on the tube each morning to solve this problem and got some of his colleagues to invest, as well as a friend to join him as a co-founder.
They started Photobox, initially having to run it as a small business. Over time they raised more money, merged and acquired other businesses, expanded into Europe and eventually sold to a private equity firm in 2016. At the time of sale Photobox employed 1,400 people and turned over more than £300m per year. He now advises on entrepreneurship and pro-bono causes.
Heidi Sophia Liu
Global Business - International Entrepreneurship MA, 2008
Heidi is the Founder and Director of Global Conscious Fashion Pty Ltd, an Australian clothing company focused on sustainable and ethical fashion. The business gives to charitable organisations and donates new clothing to people in the community. Its products were selected as Finalists in the Clean and Conscious Awards 2021. She is also the Co-Founder of Gaia Homes Co, a provider of sustainable prefabricated modular homes in California, USA. She and her sister came up with an innovative solution to construction waste and to building net-zero and net-positive energy homes.
In 2011, she founded D’coco Food and Beverage Corporation in the Philippines and served as Managing Director of the retail chain. Upon recognising the opportunity for a milk tea business, she secured the exclusive master franchisor right of Sharetea in the Philippines and opened 15 retail stores nationwide.
Kunal Thakker
Business Studies BA, 2005
Kunal has set up dental group Tooth Club, comprising of ten dental practices. The concept comes from Kunal's own anxiety about visiting the dentist as a child, and creates a warm welcoming environment where patients are made to feel relaxed by removing that distinctive dental smell, replacing it with herbal teas, a friendly team and your favourite show on Netflix while you have your dental treatment.
The dental group has been trading for two years and already has a revenue of £7m, employing over 150 people. It is estimated the business is valued at £20m with another five sites expected in the next 12 months. Kunal spent ten years after graduating at Goldman Sachs as Executive Director in the derivatives business, then became a consultant and advisor to HSBC.