The Entrepreneurs

Cousins Kavi and Shamil Thakrar are the co-founders of Dishoom. Their seven restaurants across the UK are a love letter to the old Irani cafés of Bombay (now Mumbai): perfect meeting places in a bustling diverse city. The cultural mash-up bears a resemblance to modern London where Kavi and Shamil opened their first location 10 years ago in Covent Garden. The clever affordable menus are full of comfort food and interpretations of classic dishes.

Zane Saleh is the founder of Lexxola, the London-based sunglasses brand he was inspired to start after a trip to Los Angeles. Disappointed by the quality of what was accessible to him on the market, Saleh gave up his day job in art to pursue building the company. His mission is to recreate classic designs, producing high-quality frames in Japan at an affordable price.

Mark Gainey is the co-founder and chairman of Strava, the rapidly growing social network used by more than 40 million people in 195 countries. From gold-medal efforts to weekend jogs around the park, Strava allows users to share their workouts. Gainey is a Harvard graduate and former venture-capital executive whose earlier venture, Kana Communications, was valued at $10bn and provided a solution to customer-service email in the early days of the internet.

Jamie Cook is the founder and CEO of Hexr, a London-based company behind what may be the safest bicycle helmet ever created. For decades, there has been almost no innovation in foam cycling helmets, beyond them becoming more aerodynamic. After five years of research and testing at University College London and Oxford University – and more than 3,200 prototypes – Hexr’s 3D-printed helmets began shipping earlier this month. The firm’s head-scanning app ensures you get a perfect fit.

Graeme and Christopher Raeburn are the brothers behind Raeburn, the east London fashion studio whose “remade, reduced, recycled” ethos is a benchmark for sustainable design. After a decade as head of design at cycling brand Rapha, Graeme returned to the company. Then earlier this year, to mark the 10th anniversary of Christopher’s first Remade collection – a series of pieces crafted from a single recycled parachute – the Christopher Raeburn label became simply Raeburn.

Eddie Brook is co-founder and CEO of Cape Byron Distillery, which launched near Australia’s Byron Bay in 2016. Legendary whiskey distiller Jim McEwan invested in the venture and agreed to mentor Brook after learning about his family’s 96-acre farm. A wasteland 30 years ago, Brook’s parents planted 35,000 subtropical rainforest trees, regenerating the land and – it turns out – creating an incredible climate for making spirits.

Rémi Clermont is co-founder and creative director of French cycling-fashion brand Café du Cycliste. After a career as a professional kayaker he took an IT job in Nice where, as an avid cyclist, he discovered the dream roads of the Côte d’Azur. He invested in a small café and began designing smart, France-inspired performance wear. Today the brand has shops in Palma and Shoreditch, plus a flagship café on Nice’s old port.

Jack Millington and Rory Harker are co-founders of Billy Tannery, a company based in England’s Midlands that’s helping to revive the region’s rich leather-making history. Launched in 2017, the company produces leather goods – including aprons, backpacks and tote bags – using goatskin from the food industry that would otherwise go to waste. It is also working with a number of restaurants to design bespoke products that are all vegetable tanned at the firm’s micro-tannery.

Avi Meir is the co-founder and CEO of TravelPerk, a Barcelona-based company aimed at streamlining business travel courtesy of a platform for doing everything from booking flights to simplifying expenses. In the past four years the firm has grown from being staffed by a few people to a team of about 200 – and raised more than €65m.

Charmian Love is the co-founder of B Lab UK, the Certified B Corporation partner in the UK. The global movement was created to help businesses strive for both profit and purpose by becoming more transparent, innovative and sustainable. Charmian was CEO of London-based change consultancy Volans when the company became a B Corps firm She founded B Lab UK with James Perry, director and co-founder of Cook Food, in 2013.