Aged 10, Christer Holloman launched a Rent-a-Santa business in his hometown. He’d dress up as the Big Guy each Christmas Eve and, as per Swedish tradition, hand out gifts to excited kids. “I’ve got a picture of me aged 13 counting out my earnings on Christmas Eve, I guess I was destined to become an entrepreneur.” 30 years on, Christer is living out that destiny…

Velocity Commerce has rapidly grown from a small start up run from a home garage to being recognised as the 92nd fastest growing company in Europe in the Financial Times 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies. Read PJ & Eddie’s story to learn just how they’ve done it….

Tofoo produces organic, gluten-, dairy- and yeast-free products from soybeans. Husband-and-wife team Dave Knibbs and Lydia Smith have built the business to sales of £18.6m in 2021. The North Yorkshire firm says it is the fourth-largest brand in the chilled meat-free market, with more than one million households buying its products regularly. Its recent growth is partly due to winning listings in major retailers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

For Ian Wilson and the Wattbike team, there was only ever one goal – to build the world’s most accurate indoor training bike. They were well-equipped for the challenge. “Competing in elite sport makes you single-minded,” says Ian, a former rowing world champion. “It’s a vital attribute in business, too…”

As business meetings go, it was unusual. It’s not every day that an entrepreneur with a background in manufacturing pitches to a Spice Girl. But somehow, this rendezvous was going ahead. And Christopher Money was pumped. The year was 2016 and Christopher had moved heaven and earth to get an audience with Emma Bunton. But the outcome of his proposal was in the balance. The idea that Baby Spice would say no to his business partnership invitation wasn’t worth thinking about, as the idea she’d say yes was so incredible. *Enter huge amounts of adrenaline.

Charlie Jardine is probably the only Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur who launched his business in a pig shed. In 2015, he converted a barn on his grandfather’s Suffolk farm and began to develop his first product – an electric-vehicle (EV) charger. From there, things accelerated quickly…