Winner
Lucy Bella Earl
BA Marketing Communications, 2016
After teaching English during her placement year, Lucy saw a huge gap in the market for fun, free online English lessons. After providing her father with a business plan, he gave her a £500 business loan, she started the ‘English with Lucy’ YouTube channel in her final year of university; within its first year she gained 100,000 subscribers and 2.5 million views. After graduating with a First, she decided to focus on turning the channel into a business and worked on it full-time.
In just over two years, more than 1 million students have subscribed to the channel. The channel has been featured in The Times, ITV News and BBC News, and Lucy works with major brands like Babbel and The Telegraph to create highly successful influencer marketing campaigns. In 2018, Lucy is looking to release her first commercial course and further develop her brand.
Finalists
Gautom Menon
MA Events and Conference Management, 2013
Gautom founded Wild Tiger Rum in 2016. It now retails in 30 countries. He has been recognized by GQ Magazine as one of the Top 10 innovators in India and Top 50 Influential Entrepreneurs under the age of 40. The brand donates 10 percent of its profits towards tiger conservation in Southern India.
Sameer Pitalwalla
MA Media Management, 2006
Sameer founded digital media firm, Culture Machine, in 2013. In 2015, Sameer was featured in the prestigious Forbes India 30 Under 30 list, and in 2017, Sameer won a coveted Study UK Alumni Award, the Entrepreneurial Award for India.