Sponsored by Goldman Sachs, 'Entrepreneur of the Year' recognises an individual who has demonstrated significant success in business over the past 2 years since 1 June 2019.
Success may take many forms, but may include growth, profitability, flexibility, and overcoming challenges.
The judges were looking for an individual with demonstrable entrepreneurial spirit and we are delighted to announce that this year's 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award goes to Karl Little. Serving in the Royal Marines, from 2007 – 2015, Karl also won 'Start-up of the Year' award earlier this year.
His wife, Rosie Little, who wrote the nomination, said 'It has been a very turbulent 6 months. Karl embarked on this journey in November 2020, having just allowed me to take a break in my teaching career in order to allow me to travel to Australia, to be with my sister, who had a terminal cancer diagnosis. Sadly she died while I was there and I was unable to go back to teaching. We were set to move to a bigger house and we found out we were expecting our first child in the same month after struggling for years before. To anyone else, these could have caused serious setbacks to his business plan.
However as the old proverb goes, an arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is pulling you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great. Initially wanting to become and grow the initial idea of ‘a man with a van’ and support local communities in the midst of the pandemic with a small courier service, Karl adapted his plan to now be partners with Amazon, with a fleet of 18 Amazon Prime vans and employing 32 drivers, who were struggling finding employment because of the pandemic.
We met up with Karl who told us 'I want to say a huge thank you to Heropreneurs, the panel of judges and my wife Rosie who wrote the application. This (award) is for both of us because this (business) isn't going to grow any bigger without her. She is my absolute rock and everything I do is for us moving forward. Thank you for everyone involved and my friends. I am extremely grateful.'
We would like to congratulate Karl on winning 'Entrepreneur of the Year', a truly deserving winner of this category.
Thank you to Goldman Sachs for their extremely generous support and sponsorship of the Heropreneurs Awards. We also extend our thanks to our mentors and panel of judges for their time and support for these awards.
Watch our video announcement which includes Karl's reaction below and if you would like any more information on applying to our mentorship programme, please click here