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Leading Ideas lasting Impact
8 Oct 2025
From eco recyclers to peanut pioneers and AI educators – these are the bright minds behind bold businesses chosen for their success across growth, impact, people and more.
The ambition and resilience shown by those featured in The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders this year is clear. Each individual has a unique story of success, and those results deserve recognition.
This year’s category award winners were chosen by an expert judging panel comprising Carl Castledine, founder of Away Resorts; Janette Martin, CEO of Talos360; LDC Top 50 co-editors Rebecca Burn-Callander and Kate Bassett; LDC’s John Garner; and Russ Mably, CEO of CELOX Medical and 2024’s Most Ambitious Business Leader.
Following a fierce debate, it was clear that several individuals stood out – not only for the success and growth of their businesses, but for their resilience, impact and purpose too.
Only one could be crowned The Most Ambitious Business Leader of 2025. Mark Fitzgerald, CEO of CTR Group, wowed the judges with his resilience, purpose, phenomenal track record and vision for the future. He founded the Marchington-based circular economy recycling specialist in 2014, and now turns over £45 million and works with companies across the UK and Europe. Founded to “waste nothing, reuse everything and protect the planet”, CTR collects 1,300 tonnes of unwanted goods every week. Fitzgerald helps people in low and middle-income countries make a living selling secondhand goods saved from landfill.
“I want to make a genuine difference,” he says. “CTR has been life-changing for people around the world.” He’s keen to see government legislation change.
We cannot keep using landfill. We are never going to stop producing waste in the UK and we need a proper waste strategy so that we don’t stick it in the ground or burn it.”
Outstanding in Their Field
All of our leaders are running fast growth businesses but Barty Walsh, founder of ORDO, has taken this to a new level with his innovative electric toothbrushes that don’t break the bank. Revenue growth over the past three years stands at more than 350 per cent, and profits have grown 30-fold. Walsh won The Growth Award after impressing the judges with his ambition to make the industry more inclusive and tackle tooth decay in children. “We want to make a clinical-level clean accessible to more people,” Walsh says.
Pip Murray, the founder of nut butter brand Pip & Nut, was recognised as a force for good in business. She picked up The Impact Award for her B Corp, which helps peanut growers move to regenerative farming. Murray launched the business after training for a marathon and failing to find a great-tasting sustainable peanut butter. Despite having no prior experience, and being dyslexic, she has built the category’s fastest growing brand, which is palm oil free and carbon neutral, and is set to turn over £40 million next year.
Beyond our Borders
Manny Athwal, CEO of the School of Coding and AI, is an example of a leader at the forefront of the AI revolution. He picked up The Trailblazer Award for his technical training company, which teaches 3,000 students across 17 countries each year. Athwal is helping society adapt to a new AI-driven world. “Most of our students say we offer them something they never thought they could achieve,” he says.
We create opportunities for people to reskill, upskill and better themselves, regardless of their age.”
CONDUCTR is another company with global appeal, designing immersive, tech-powered experiences. Founders Jos van der Steen and Peter Cliff, who scooped The International Award, have their sights set on bringing the UK’s trend of digital shuffleboard, shooting galleries and interactive gaming to the rest of the world. “Places like Manchester have so many venues but the US is an underserved market for competitive socialising.”
Challenging the Status Quo
The Innovation Award was hotly contested, with leaders showcasing ground-breaking ideas and novel routes to market. But it was Lee Brooks at Production Park who emerged victorious thanks to his creative music hub.
“I attended the rehearsals for the Opening Ceremony of London 2012 and I remember thinking, ‘Live events are going to be a huge part of the future economy.’” Founded in 2015, the rehearsal space and studios have been recognised by the government as a national model for regional creative growth.
Another outside-the-box thinker, and winner of The Disruptor Award, is Caroline Briggs, founder of Amici. Her procurement specialist has been a gamechanger for the biotech industry, combining the buying power of hundreds of customers to access savings. “We have grown rapidly because we are an all-singing, all dancing solution,” says Briggs. Judges praised her for bringing disruption to a traditionally slow moving sector – she puts it down to her time spent in a lab. “Being a scientist is good training for life,” she explains. “The ability to hover from accurate detail through to big picture thinking is part of a scientist’s make-up.”
Sometimes the best businesses don’t come from discovering something new, but from improving an old idea. Woolcool was the first to use the material as a replacement for plastic packaging. This year’s winner of The Sustainability Award is Josie Morris MBE, who supercharged growth at the 16-year-old company.
Her biodegradable insulated packaging is now used to protect everything from chilled foods to medicines in transit, and the business is growing by up to 30 per cent each year.
I believe in doing what’s fair, not just what’s profitable. If you’re fortunate enough to be in the position of power, use it to do something good.”
People Powered
The LDC Top 50 has always celebrated business leaders who go the extra mile for employees and customers, including The People Award winner Peter Ellse, founder of Cosy Direct, which makes equipment for nurseries and playgrounds.
“I’ve created a business that fits around people’s lives,” Ellse says.
We’ve got 30 mums working half days during term time. We also employ ex-offenders, young apprentices, early retirees and neurodivergent adults.”
The Resilience Award, presented to the leader who has overcome the greatest challenges and shown courage under fire, went to Mike Brennan, founder of outdoor advertising specialist Outdo. Brennan shares his story: “I lost my son Adam when he was three; I became a trustee at a children’s hospice in Huddersfield. By the time I left, Forget Me Not Trust had built a hospice, had a princess as a patron and pioneered care-at-home. I didn’t know when I became a trustee that my son Alex would develop a tumour aged six, becoming one of the first children we cared for at home.”
Destined for Greatness
Every year we recognise the industry leaders showing great progress and tipped for the top. In 2025 there are three Rising Stars who have disrupted industries and made an impact.
Russell Teale has already had an impact on the nation’s schools, helping them unlock income from their underutilised pools and courts via his booking platform Vivify. Laura Earnshaw is the Founder and CEO of myHappymind, provider of the only NHS-backed mental health curriculum in schools, and Nazanin Nankali, founder of Powertutors, offers support to students with additional needs.
Finally, the Highly Commended: One to Watch Award went to Interlink co-founders Andrew McLernon and Jay Gorga, whose fast-growing B2B martech company has moved to a four-day working week as part of its push to become the world’s best lead-generation firm.
Feeling inspired? Register your interest or put forward a CEO or Founder you know for The LDC Top 50 2026.