Meet the 2023 judges

The unstoppable EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ finalists are assessed by an independent panel of judges, most of whom have previously participated in EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ UK programme.

United Kingdom

Jamil Mawji – Chair

Co-Founder & Co-Chair, National Care Group

Jamil is the Co-Founder & Co-Chair of National Care Group (NCG) - one of the UK’s largest adult specialist care providers, employing approximately 2,500 team members and providing care and support services to vulnerable adults. He was a UK finalist in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2020 UK experience along with his co-founder, Faisal Lalani.

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Timo Boldt

Founder & CEO, Gousto

Timo Boldt is the founder and CEO of B CorpTM Gousto. Using data and technology to enhance the customer experience, Timo has pioneered the recipe box offering in the UK, changing the way people shop and eat, all while having a positive impact on the planet. In 2022, Timo was crowned EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2022 UK.

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Kim (Brown) Morrish

Owner & Director, Ground Control

Kim co-led the search fort, and acquisition of, Ground Control in 2004. Since then, Ground Control has seen twenty-fold growth to £160mn, whilst demonstrating business as a force for good. She firmly believes that people are at the heart of any successful business.

Kim launched and heads Canterbury Partners and the Evergreen Fund, and serves as an NED in social impact ventures.

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Steve Rigby

Group Co-CEO, Rigby Group

After selling his first business at the age of 24, Steve is now group co-CEO of the family-owned Rigby Group. The multinational conglomerate employs over 8,500 people across Europe and has revenues of more than £2.8 bn, with six key divisions: airports, aviation, finance, hotels, real estate and technology.

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Sam Smith

Founder & former CEO, finnCap Group plc

Sam is the founder, former CEO and adviser to finnCap Group plc, a leading advisory firm. The first female CEO of a city stock-broking firm, Sam actively champions investment for under-represented groups, including female-led businesses. Under her leadership, finnCap became a leading advisory firm for the business of tomorrow. Today Sam advises scale-up businesses and is a non-executive director.

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London & South East

Sumir Karayi

Founder, 1E Global

Sumir is one of the UK’s more successful software entrepreneurs. In 2021, he sold most of his business — 1E — to the Carlyle Group, after having grown it organically over 20 years. 1E has continually invented new technologies, with more than 40 patents helping businesses ensure their employees can successfully work from anywhere.

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Midlands & South West

Steve Hewitt

Founder, The Whānau Advisory

Steve Hewitt founded Whānau Advisory to help entrepreneurs and senior leadership teams build small to medium-sized businesses into global brands.

The company donates a percentage of its profits to charities providing housing, mentoring, and supporting healthcare programmes.

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North

Hayley Roberts

CEO, Distology

After a 20-year career with blue chip enterprise businesses in retail, recruitment and technology, Hayley founded an information technology (IT) security distributor — Distology. Distology specialises in identifying and distributing the latest disruptive technology in the cybersecurity arena.

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Scotland

Chris van der Kuyl

Principal, Chroma Ventures

Chris is one of Scotland’s leading entrepreneurs, working across the technology, media, gaming and entertainment sectors. He is — most notably — the Co-founder and Chairman of multiple award-winning games developer — 4J Studios. He and fellow Co-founder — Paddy Burns — launched Chroma Ventures — the investment arm of 4J Studios — in 2021.

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