Under 35
London in October to pitch to a room of investors, backed by Innovation Point. Daniel Shepherd, 23, co-director CanDo Laundry Services Daniel began the Skewen-based CanDo Laundry Services at the age of 19 after completing his first year of university in business management/marketing. He began with domestic washing machinery and within three years he is now at full capacity, with commercial machinery and contracts for hotels, factories and private hospitals.
Robert Dragan, 27, CEO Learnium
Robert Dragan has always been passionate about technology and education. After speaking to teachers and students at several Welsh universities, he teamed up with Arun Wilson and Dale Bradley to start Learnium – a social learning platform that enables teachers and students to connect, communicate and collaborate online.
The company has recently been named one of the Digital Dozen, the top 12 Welsh companies to watch in 2016. Learnium will be pitching in front of investors at Innovation Point’s trade mission to London in October.
Chris Ganje, 34, co-founder and CEO of AMPLYFI
Chris nurtured artificial intelligence firm AMPLYFI from initial concept to a leader in European digital innovation. The company is pioneering the development of software solutions that combine artificial intelligence, surface and deep web harvesting and Big Data analytics to trace market trends and pinpoint potential technology disruptions.
Chris’ professional experience includes founding a wind power startup in India, followed by eight years at BP.
Elliott Buss, 32, client partner at UHY Hacker Young
Elliott is client partner at Newport-based chartered accountants UHY Hacker Young. Since joining the practice in 2011, Elliott has introduced in excess of 200 clients to the firm and created a ‘sports desk’ for his increasing portfolio of international sports stars, which includes 42 rugby internationals, two Olympians and two professional footballers.
His sports work has also led him to become chairman of UHY Hacker Young’s national sports group. Jon Richards, 32, chief executive Compareit4me.com Jon heads up Compareit4me.com, a price comparison site based in Dubai. He was instrumental in securing a $2.4m investment – which was $1m more than it planned to raise, such was investor interest – to fund its aggressive expansion plans across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.