Meet The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders of 2025

The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders has uncovered the stories behind some of the nation’s most ambitious entrepreneurs for the eighth year running.

Created by LDC and in partnership with The Times, the programme has now celebrated hundreds of remarkable business leaders, and each year the nominations exceed the expectations of the judging panel.

This year, the programme received almost 700 nominations, showcasing the exceptional individuals that are building successful, growing medium-sized businesses right across the UK.

Those featured in The LDC Top 50 for 2025 are making a powerful impact by creating jobs, making a difference in the communities they serve, championing sustainability and expanding internationally. They are also demonstrating resilience as they drive growth and develop new ideas to innovate and diversify.

They operate from 67 towns and cities across the UK and span every sector of the economy, whilst collectively they employ almost 10,000 people and generate combined revenues of £1.2bn.

The LDC Top 50 and Ones to Watch were celebrated at an awards ceremony at BAFTA in London last night, where The UK’s Most Ambitious Business Leader was revealed among a number of other category award winners.

The overall winner, The Most Ambitious Business Leader of 2025, is Mark Fitzgerald of CTR Group. Mark impressed the judges with his resilience, purpose, phenomenal track record and vision for the future. Since founding the Marchington-based recycling specialist in 2014, he has grown the business to a £45m turnover and now works with companies across the UK and Europe. Guided by its mission to “waste nothing, reuse everything and protect the planet,” CTR processes 1,300 tonnes of unwanted goods each week, repurposing them to benefit disadvantaged communities worldwide.

Supporting young entrepreneurs

The Youth Ambition Award, returning for its second year, recognises the achievements of a standout young entrepreneur from The King’s Trust Enterprise programme, which is supported by LDC. Kwame Boateng of Ingrained Oil launched his business in 2022 while studying at Birmingham City University. He wanted to create a fragrance brand that was both skin-friendly and cruelty-free after experiencing irritation from traditional products. Supported by The King’s Trust Enterprise programme, Kwame developed a collection of six alcohol-free fragrances which are now sold online and through pop-ups in select John Lewis stores.

Alongside running the business, Kwame is also a young ambassador for The King’s Trust and a board member of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Black Business Collective, where he champions opportunities for young people facing barriers to entrepreneurship.

Ahead of the curve

The Growth Award, which recognises the business leader who has driven significant growth within their company, went to Barty Walsh of ORDO. Barty co-founded ORDO in 2019, shaking up the electric toothbrush market with affordable, high-quality products. He has since grown it into one of the UK’s fastest-growing personal care brands. Revenue growth over the past three years stands at 350%, with profits up 30-fold.

Recognising an individual who is making a real impact in their industry, The Impact Award went to Pip Murray of Pip & Nut. A certified B Corp, her company Pip & Nut supports peanut growers in moving to regenerative farming, while offering palm-oil-free and carbon-neutral products. The business has grown from a market-stall to the UK’s number one nut butter brand. It is stocked in 5,000 stores and set to reach £40m turnover next year.

Pushing boundaries and crossing borders

Manny Athwal of School of Coding and AI took home The Trailblazer Award, which recognises a business leader that is bold, ambitious and always one step ahead. When Manny found himself out of work, he taught himself to code in under three months and spotted an opportunity to create a coding programme for kids. He started out teaching just two pupils a week, and seven years later, his multimillion-pound business now teaches 3,000 students across 17 countries each year.

Jos van der Steen and Peter Cliff of CONDUCTR took home The International Award, which marks the pair’s ambition and success in expanding operations or sales overseas. From their Trafford headquarters, they have created world-class attractions such as The Curse at Alton Manor and the first outdoor interactive LED sports court for Norwegian Cruise Line. With studios now in North America and the Middle East and most of their revenue coming from the US, they are exporting Manchester’s creativity to a global stage.

Challenging the status quo

The Innovation Award, which celebrates leaders with ground-breaking ideas and bold new routes to market, went to Lee Brooks of Production Park. Lee was recognised for transforming South Kirkby into a global hub for live entertainment. Some of the world’s biggest artists, from Beyoncé to Coldplay, go there to create, rehearse and perform and, its facilities have been highlighted by the government as a national model for regional creative growth. This year the business is on track to reach £30m in revenue.

Recognising a business leader that is shaking up their sector, The Disruptor Award went to Caroline Briggs of Amici. Former scientist and outside-the-box thinker Caroline Briggs founded Amici in 2005 to power intelligent LabOps, helping labs run efficiently, compliantly and cost-effectively. Today, Amici partners with biotechs and pharma companies across the UK, Europe and the US. Her procurement specialist has been a gamechanger for the biotech industry, combining the buying power of hundreds of customers to access savings.

Josie Morris MBE of Woolcool took home The Sustainability Award, which recognises the leader of a business that is contributing to a more sustainable future. Josie has supercharged growth at Woolcool, which uses 100% wool as a natural alternative to plastic in packaging. Under her leadership, it became the UK’s first packaging company of its kind to achieve B Corp certification and saved over 3,000 tonnes of polystyrene from landfill last year.

Leading with heart

Honouring the leader with a clear mission to support their employees, The People Award went to Peter Ellse of Cosy Direct. Peter has built a workplace that fits around people’s lives, employing part-time mums, ex-offenders, apprentices, early retirees and neurodivergent adults. The Staffordshire-based company now supplies more than 6,000 products to 46 countries, has earned a King’s Award for International Trade, and donates 10 per cent of profits to grassroots charities.

Mike Brennan of Outdo was awarded The Resilience Award, recognised for his courage in the face of immense personal challenges including the loss of two of his youngest children. He has grown Halifax-based Outdo into a company that manages 30,000 outdoor media sites nationwide. Turnover has tripled in five years, the business now employs 75 people, with many working remotely and flexibly, and Mike remains focused on building the UK’s largest outdoor advertising company outside London.

Rising stars

Russell Teale of Vivify, Laura Earnshaw of myHappyMind and Nazanin Nankali of Powertutors all received a Rising Star Award, which recognises the business leaders who are already making great strides in their respective fields, while inspiring and supporting the next generation of business leaders.

Russell has already had an impact on the nation’s schools, helping them to unlock income from their underutilised pools and courts via his booking platform Vivify. The business now employs almost 500 people and has generated £10m of additional revenue for schools.

Laura is the founder of myHappyMind, the provider of the only NHS-backed mental health curriculum in schools. Her programme is now improving the lives of one million children, parents and teachers across 2,000 schools in the UK.

Born in Iran and raised in Ukraine, Nazanin, who is dyslexic and autistic, struggled with her education until she met a transformative tutor at the age of nine. After moving to the UK, she completed her degree and went on to found Powertutors, a business that offers support to students with additional needs.

One to watch

The Highly Commended: One to Watch Award, which recognises the leaders who are the driving force behind a business destined for great things, went to Andrew McLernon and Jay Gorga of Interlink. They impressed the judges by combining AI-driven innovation with a people-first mindset, showcasing their ambition to build not only the world’s leading lead generation company, but also one of the best places to work.

Championing our alumni

Finally, LDC revisited the stories of some of The LDC Top 50 alumni who continue to prove that the UK remains a powerhouse of growth. This year The Alumni Award went to Martin Taylor of Content Guru. Martin originally featured in The LDC Top 50 in 2020 and has since overseen the expansion of his cloud communications specialist business, with turnover rising to £68m and a £80m target set for 2025.

A successful year

John Garner, Managing Partner at LDC, said: “In the eight years since we launched The LDC Top 50 we’ve had the honour of meeting some exceptional business leaders. This year’s cohort has shown drive and ambition in their growth journeys, proven remarkable resilience, and together they are making a real difference to their employees, the communities they work in and society at large. I’d like to congratulate them on everything they’ve achieved so far. Their success stories are only just beginning, and we’re excited to see where their journey takes them next.”