Recommended to the Queen by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Murray Wells will be presented with the award at Buckingham Palace on July 13th. Murray Wells started Glasses Direct from his parents’ sitting room at the age of 21. His business, now approaching its fifth birthday, sells a pair of glasses every few minutes and claims to have saved the UK public over £30m on their prescription glasses. 

Although he’s still in his twenties, the specs retailer is hell-bent on helping to promote the next generation of entrepreneurs. He’s taken on mentoring schemes for the Times and Channel 4, governmental advisory roles, and has stumped up his own cash to help launch a new crop of startups.

We interviewed Murray Wells last year as part of our My First Million campaign with Orange. Listen to his views on the credit crunch here.

Related articles:Chancellor: "This country depends on young entrepreneurs"

Share this story