Celebrating British entrepreneurs
Thrilled to celebrate our 24th annual Fast Track 100 conference, showcasing the UK’s fastest-growing private companies. Congratulations to all of the business that made the list this year.
The challenges of the pandemic are ongoing but many businesses are now hopefully looking ahead to reopening and recovery. It’s important to recognise the entrepreneurs who are turning challenges into opportunities even in these incredibly difficult times.
These entrepreneurs fill me with hope for the future – they are the people driving innovation and creating jobs in the UK economy. They are proof that entrepreneurship can change people’s lives and communities for the better. It’s crucial to celebrate their achievements and to try and create the right environment for their companies – and more just like them – to thrive.
At Virgin we work to support entrepreneurs in every way we can. We launched Virgin StartUp more than seven years ago and we’re thrilled to have supported more than 4,000 entrepreneurs across the UK and provided more than £54m in Start Up Loan funding. Virgin StartUp has also recently partnered with Virgin Money to scale up the support it can offer and reach more entrepreneurs than ever.
I’ve been really excited to see Virgin StartUp supporting companies that want to challenge the way things are done and lead the way with sustainable and socially-impactful businesses. From Oddbox to Change Please, there are so many examples of brilliant start-ups doing things differently to benefit their customers and wider society.
While it’s sad that this will be the final Fast Track 100, it’s positive to yet again see so many wonderful businesses on this year’s list. Thank you to Hamish and his wonderful team for all that they have done over the years to showcase the very best of business. This may be our last Fast Track celebration of all the businesses driving positive change – but I have no doubt British entrepreneurs will keep the spirit of innovation alive.