Recognising entrepreneurial alumni

Through its annual Entrepreneurship Awards, London Business School’s Entrepreneurship Club recognises the achievements of the School’s alumni who have set up successful entrepreneurial ventures. The awards are in their second year, with one given for early-stage ventures and one for longer-running operations.

Winner of the former award, Saleem Arif MBA2005, is recognised for making significant progress towards turning QualitySolicitors into the UK’s first national legal brand, having signed up 170 firms to date. The target for October 2011 is 300 firms, equivalent to 5% of the entire private-client legal market.

Chris Havemann MBA1999 received the award for a later-stage venture for creating Research Now, the leading global online sampling and online data collection company. Catering primarily for market research agencies, it underwent a successful IPO in 2005 and Chris oversaw its sale to e-Rewards Inc in 2009. He remains President and CEO of the group, whose long-term goal is to be the global leader in permission-based digital data collection.

The awards were judged by a committee of current students, faculty and members of Enterprise 100, the School’s angel investor network, which sponsored the awards. Last year’s inaugural winners were Ian Zilberkweit MiFPT2000, founder of Le Pain Quotidien Russia, and Anil Ohri SEMBA1999, founder of Regent’s Park Heart Clinics.

To find out more about entrepreneurship at London Business School visit the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship pages on our website and the students’ Entrepreneurship Club website.