Winners’ Summaries 2024
Young Entrepreneur of the Year (aged 30 and under) – sponsored by WCoSP
Shivanshi Sharma – Shivanshi Sharma Consultancy
Shivanshi is a young and compassionate entrepreneur, leader who brings significant business acumen and marketing skills to the table. Having recognised a gap in the market, she founded Shivanshi Sharma Consultancy Ltd (SSC), a hyper-focussed marketing and branding consultancy specialising in the security industry. With a growing clientele across UK and European organisations, and a team of specialists in India, Shivanshi hopes to expand her business and help many more individuals and businesses along the way. She is also a Board Member for the Women in Security Academy and has served as the Director of Marketing for the International Professional Security Association (IPSA). She loves writing and public speaking, especially sharing her knowledge and experiences with others who are looking to establish their own enterprises.
Entrepreneur of the Year – sponsored by Pyronix
Jonathan Parker – EDSB
Since 2012, Jonathan Parker has successfully built EDSB to be one of the UK’s leading independent fire and security businesses, employing over 160 people. Starting out as a Fire & Security company, he has developed the group into a total compliance provider incorporating passive fire and water hygiene. Jonathan’s drive to be ‘different from the rest’, aligned with his desire to deliver compliance with a high level of service has meant that EDSB continues to go from strength to strength. His foresight in recent years has included a 3-year carbon reduction journey, initiating a partnership on Apprentices with Skills for Security, as well as creating transitional roles for service leavers into this industry.
Intrapreneur of the Year
Preciosa Aycocho – Secure Logiq
Employed as the Office Administrator for our new Middle East office in late 2022, Precious has gone above and beyond her assigned role and effectively manages the whole region. This includes organising a team of five, including travel arrangements, over a very large and complex region and ensuring everything is ready and perfect when other members of the global team visit. She also takes care of all legal and immigration issues, as well as ensuring that all insurance, licencing and other regulatory requirements are dealt with in a timely manner. The main reason for the nomination though is that Precious has an incredible talent for both digital and print content and has used this to revolutionise and modernise our brand, in her own time and without being tasked to do so.
Entrepreneurial Business of the Year: up to £10m – sponsored by Trojan Security
EarnFlex
EarnFlex is a technology company that makes flexible working fair, safe, compliant and profitable for workers and businesses in front-line industries. Effective, flexible working can help resolve skilled worker shortages in the Facilities Management industry and help qualified workers get extra work to address the cost of living crisis. However, the end-end process must be managed, including finding, hiring, vetting, placing and managing officers on shifts. EarnFlex is championing this for the Facilities Management industry – no other flex labour provider manages the end-to-end process.
Entrepreneurial Business of the Year: above £10m – sponsored by CSL
First Response Group
First Response Group (FRG) is an owner operated business providing security and facility management solutions to customers across a wide range of industries. Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), as a driver for employee happiness and business success, has been key since inception and is an ethos which saw FRG become the first UK security company to receive Inclusive Employers Accreditation in 2022. The past two years have seen FRG develop a strengthened position in its operations, with outstanding service delivery across major contracts. This includes the world’s biggest insurer, AXA, the world’s largest infrastructure project, HS2, and the world’s leading stadium, Wembley Stadium.
Market Disruptor of the Year
EarnFlex
EarnFlex is disrupting the market by solving security and facilities management industry resource shortages and compliance problems via an end-to-end AI-enabled technology platform. Since the EarnFlex platform was designed and developed in-house from the ground up by those with a comprehensive understanding of how a security business works, improvements have been made at each step, creating a workflow that is an order of magnitude more efficient, cheaper to run, and error-proof. In the first year they have signed up over 10,000 workers and are providing security officers to over 100 corporate and government sites across the UK.
Family-Owned Business of the Year – sponsored by HKC Security
MAN Commercial Protection Ltd
Owned by Iain and Traci McCallister (CEO and HR Director respectively), MAN Commercial Protection Ltd is a privately-owned family-run security company based in Solihull, West Midlands. The company has recently celebrated their 30th year in business. MAN Commercial are experienced in all aspects of security guarding and work throughout the UK. The company’s family ethos is embodied by the 1500-strong workforce, who work across a wide range of locations in keyholding and alarm response, CCTV operation, loss prevention, reception and concierge services, retail and leisure, and events security management. With a focus on providing excellent customer service and fulfilling their people’s potential, MAN Commercial has become a top-20 UK security company and continues to grow.
University Start-up of the Year
eNOugh
eNOugh combines advanced hardware, tailored features, and AI technology to create a powerful and reliable personal safety solution for everyone. Their smart wearable badge is designed to empower individuals to feel safer, particularly women, when walking alone at night. As a University College London-backed start-up, this has allowed direct access to 45,000 students in London, representing ideal early adopters of this device. The organisation also collaborates with societies and clubs to provide their product to members. eNOugh was selected to showcase their smart wearable badge at the ‘Prototypes for Humanity’ event last November as part of COP28 in Dubai. This event features innovations that have the power to change the world. Not only has this start-up leveraged university resources for growth, but it has also engaged in effective fundraising and pitching to raise further capital necessary to refine their product and scale their impact.
Lifetime Achievement – sponsored by Ajax
Paul Harvey
Paul is an accomplished professional with over 30 years’ service to the security profession, committed to the betterment of the industry, with a proven track record of success. He is a Chartered Security Professional, a Fellow of the ISRM, Member of the Security Institute, Freeman of the City of London, and has had an enviable career spanning plc listed, private equity backed and privately owned business, ranging from £9m to £850m in value. He is the outgoing chairperson of the TiNYg Global Terrorism Information Network, and actively engages with a number of organisations delivering social value and impacting on communities. Without exception, the organisations where Paul has worked have grown on both the top and bottom line, with operations across corporate, counterterrorism, maritime, aviation, retail, logistics and public realm, specialising in high-risk, high-profile and iconic locations.