SUNDAY TIMES 100

The remarkable entrepreneurs behind Britain’s fastest-growing businesses

Richard Tyler introduces the best of Britain’s new entrepreneurs, whose yearly sales total £4.7 billion

From left: Suki Sandhu of We Us Ours; Ben Amanna of Boxraw; Darina Garland of Ooni; Emma Dempsey of James and James Fulfilment; Sophie Birkert of Screen With Envy; Susie Ma of Tropic Skincare; Reece Wabara of Maniere De Voir
From left: Suki Sandhu of We Us Ours; Ben Amanna of Boxraw; Darina Garland of Ooni; Emma Dempsey of James and James Fulfilment; Sophie Birkert of Screen With Envy; Susie Ma of Tropic Skincare; Reece Wabara of Maniere De Voir
The Sunday Times

It didn’t take long for Reiss and Kris Edgerton to spot the opportunity. Like many ecommerce businesses inundated with orders during the early stages of the pandemic, the brothers had switched from using low-cost slow shipping containers to high-cost, fast airfreight.

Then they noticed that DHL flew its planes into Germany, unloaded and sorted the cargo at a distribution centre, and then sent on the goods destined for the UK. It created a window of time in which their business — the women’s sportswear brand AYBL — could act.

The problem they faced was that they couldn’t store enough stock at their rented home in Bromsgrove to meet demand and viewing warehouse space during lockdowns was nigh-on impossible. The Edgertons realised that they could advertise