News
Nominations open for The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders of 2026
4 Mar 2026
Today LDC has launched its 2026 search for The UK’s Most Ambitious Business Leaders, in partnership with The Times.
Nominations are open to remarkable CEOs, founders and Managing Directors leading growing businesses right across the UK.
Now in its ninth year, The LDC Top 50 celebrates the leaders building and scaling businesses that help drive the UK economy forward. The programme champions ambition and celebrates those whose determination and drive are delivering sustainable growth, whilst also supporting their people and having a positive impact on their communities and society as a whole.
The Top 50 and Ones to Watch of 2026, along with category award winners, will be revealed at a celebratory event at BAFTA and profiled in The Times in October.
Since its creation, The LDC Top 50 has showcased hundreds of remarkable leaders. The companies represented by The Top 50 and Ones to Watch of 2025 operate from 67 towns and cities across the UK and span every sector of the economy, whilst collectively employing almost 10,000 people and generating combined revenues of £1.2 billion.
The Most Ambitious Business Leader of 2025 was Mark Fitzgerald, CEO of recycling specialist CTR Group. 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. Mark impressed the judges with his resilience, purpose, phenomenal track record and vision for the future.
Seeing my name in The Times was surreal and something I never expected. But the recognition belongs to CTR as much as it does to me. It reflects the passion and ambition of the whole team and the belief in what we’re building. Being part of The Top 50 has raised our profile and reinforced the difference we’re working hard to make.”
Last year’s category award winners included:
Pip Murray of Pip & Nut won the Impact Award for growing her B-Corp certified business while producing palm-oil-free, carbon-neutral products.
Lee Brooks of Production Park won The Innovation Award for transforming South Kirkby into a global hub for live entertainment.
Manny Athwal of School of Coding and AI took home The Trailblazer Award for growing a multimillion-pound business teaching 3,000 students across 17 countries each year.
Caroline Briggs of Amici was awarded The Disruptor Award for thinking outside the box in supporting biotechs and pharma companies with procurement.
Laura Earnshaw of myHappymind was named a Rising Star for improving the lives of one million children, parents and teachers across 2,000 schools in the UK.
Previous Top 50 business leader Martin Taylor of Content Guru took home The Alumni Award. Martin originally featured in The Top 50 in 2020 and has since led his cloud communications specialist business through a period of significant growth.
He said: “This is different to other industry awards because you aren’t just up against industry peers, your partners and customers may enter as well. I got so many comments from customers and people in the industry. It’s an individual award, which is also rare. Your colleagues get confidence from knowing that their founders are well-regarded externally.”
Commenting on this year’s programme, Sam Grey, Chief Marketing Officer at LDC, added: “At LDC, we have always championed ambition. We created The Top 50 to shine a light on the individuals behind business success, to celebrate their resilience and triumphs, with a mission to inspire other entrepreneurs.
“Leading a business certainly hasn’t got any easier in the last few years, so it’s even more important that The Top 50 provides the recognition ambitious business leaders deserve. We’re looking forward to reviewing this year’s nominations and unveiling The Top 50 of 2026 later this year.”
To qualify for the programme, nominated candidates must be the founder, managing director or CEO of a UK-based growing medium-sized businesses with an annual turnover of up to £50million.
Last year, The Top 50 was awarded Most Effective Integrated B2B Campaign at the Financial Services Forum’s 2025 Awards for Marketing Effectiveness.
More information on how to nominate can be found here.