Who’s cool in UK tech? LBS alumni

Hussein Kanji and Ismail Ahmed feature in Business Insider’s ‘100 coolest people in UK tech’ list

 

Two London Business School (LBS) alumni have been recognised by Business Insider in an ultra-cool list of tech business people.

Executive MBA alumnus Ismail Ahmed and MBA alumnus Hussein Kanji joined an impressive line-up including the co-founders of DeepMind – on a mission to solve intelligence – William Shu of Deliveroo and even tennis champion Andy Murray, who invests in tech.

What constitutes cool? “We define ‘cool’ as having done influential and interesting things — whether it's getting a new job, raising money, or something more off the wall,” reads the media site.

In 2009, Ahmed founded WorldRemit, an online money-transfer service that helps migrants send money back to their home countries. Before setting up his own business, he worked for the UN, helping African money transfer companies comply with anti-laundering rules. His first job was for a World Bank agricultural development project when he was still living in Hargeisa, Somaliland, which saw him gain a World Bank scholarship to study in the UK.

Kanji is a tech investor whose London-based firm Hoxton Ventures invests in early-stage companies, backing start-ups such as Deliveroo, Babylon Health, Darktrace and Yieldify. Previously, he was a venture capitalist at Accel Partners and worked at Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

• Watch Kanji’s top investment tips 

The ‘100 coolest people in UK tech’ list also includes a drone racer and a chief emoji officer.