Angels DenIt’s a newcomer to the angel scene but is already making a big impact with its model that aims to make investment transparent, easy and available to everyone. Founded in May 2007 by Bill Morrow and Lois Cook, Angels Den now has the largest number of angel investors in Europe, with more than 2,700 registered angels. Almost a fifth of start-ups and entrepreneurs find angels through the Den, with most business plans submitted securing at least one angel meeting. Other initiatives focus on increasing the number of female entrepreneurs and angels, offering free advice to would-be business owners and pioneering SpeedFunding (think speed dating but for business). Alan SugarLove him or hate him, there’s no arguing Sugar isn’t passionate about enterprise. On a superficial level, he’s raised the profile of entrepreneurial life through The Apprentice but now Sugar’s mucking in with the government as Gordon Brown’s new enterprise tsar. The new lord isn’t just complaining; he’s doing. Shell LiveWIREThe stats on Shell LiveWire speak for themselves. Since the oil giant started up the programme, which includes awards and a supportive community for entrepreneurs, it has helped more than 600,000 people start a business, among them Jamie Murray Wells’s Glasses Direct. The programme has expanded into 22 countries.Richard BransonIn 1999, he was knighted for services to entrepreneurship; he’s created Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation that, among other things, seeks to find entrepreneurial solutions to improve communities and offers support for businesses wanting to “become a force for good”; and this year, he launched Pitch TV where budding entrepreneurs can pitch their business to angel investors. He’s brash, he’s wildly successful and he’s still the poster boy for entrepreneurship in Britain. Tell us who you think should’ve been on our list of enterprise heroes by posting a comment below. Picture:
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