Thames Valley: UKCloud and Xtrac win Entrepreneur of the Year awards

Simon Hansford, co-founder of UKCloud, and Peter Digby, chairman of Xtrac, won category awards (Scale Up and Sustained Excellence respectively) at EY London & South Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018, held at BAFTA in London. 

UKCloud, based in Farnborough, is a leading service provider for assured cloud services, providing flexible and tailored solutions exclusively for the UK public sector. The platform is used by the NHS, the Police service, educational institutions, the Ministry of Defence, and local and central government. Hansford of UKCloud took home the Scale Up award, with judges being particularly impressed by the way UKCloud confidently disrupted the market with cutting edge technology.

Xtrac, based in Thatcham, is the worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of transmission systems, with clients from top level motorsport – such as Formula 1 – and high performance automotive. Digby of Xtrax received the Sustained Excellence award, alongside one other entrepreneur (Dr Drew Nelson of IQE based in Cardiff). The judges were impressed by how Xtrac grew to be the world’s leading supplier in the market.

Ten entrepreneurs from eight companies were honoured on the night, each winning an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year award in each of the following categories:

• Scale Up – Simon Hansford, UKCloud
• Disruptor – Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, Bulb; and Bernhard Niesner, busuu
• Rising Star and London & South overall winner – Jesse Lozano, pi-top
• Sustained Excellence – Dr. Drew Nelson, OBE, IQE; and Peter Digby, Xtrac
• Transformational Leader – Kim and Simon Morrish, Ground Control
• Building a better working world – Susie Ma, Tropic Skincare

Dave Hales, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year leader in the South, said: “Both UKCloud and Xtrac have grown into innovative and inspiring businesses – a true example of the great entrepreneurialism we have here in the Thames Valley.

“Simon, co-founder of UKCloud, disrupted a heavily dominated market using cutting edge technology, resulting in incredible cost-saving opportunities for the public sector. Since joining Xtrac in 1986, Peter has grown the company to be the world’s leading supplier of motorsport transmissions, whilst putting his employees at the heart of the business.

“We are delighted to have UKCloud and Xtrac as award winners at our EY London & South Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018.”

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year London & South independent judging panel was chaired by Saleem Asaria, CEO of Cambian Group. He was joined by Matt Isaacs, founding partner and chairman of Essence; Martin Leuw, chairman of Growth4Good; Henrietta Morrison, founder and CEO of Lily’s Kitchen; Lubna Quash, director of The Carlyle Group; and Sam Smith, CEO and founder of finnCap.