Winner Toby Gillett
The winner of the £50,000 prize fund for the Gatwick Diamond’s entrepreneurial initiative, Young Start-up Talent, was announced at an impressive show at the Copthorne Effingham Hotel on Thursday 29th March.
Toby Gillett, 18, from Crawley Down, who attends Imberhorne school, Crawley, was announced as winner of the project with his business idea for an online book library, ‘Sobiblio’.
Toby said, “I’m over the moon, especially after the semi-final where I felt I was quite nervous. I feel extremely grateful for the opportunity that’s now been presented to me.”
Toby’s very proud mum, Christine, said “He has always had an entrepreneurial flair. The first time I was aware of it was at infant school, a friend he played rugby with was diagnosed with cancer, and he wanted to raise money to support him and he arranged a cake and fruit sale. When you bear in mind how young he was, it was amazing, he really did a great job and raised a lot of money for his friend.”
The evening was hosted by the founders of the competition, Lorraine Nugent, MD of Sussex PR agency, Media Word Waves, and Mat Turner, MD Of Creative Pod, who are pictured with Toby.
Special guest speakers included Marion Broughton, Vice President of Thales Training and Simulation and Jane McGill, HR Business Partner for British Airways, who were both on the judging panel.