CEO of Coventry-based ParentPay wins ‘Scale Up’ award at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 UK final

News

16/11/2018

Clint Wilson, CEO of Coventry-based ParentPay, was named ‘Scale Up’ winner at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 UK awards last night in London.

Wilson took home the ‘Scale Up’ award for being a purpose-driven entrepreneur who has demonstrated strong growth and had a positive impact on the lives of schoolchildren, their parents, and the economy.

ParentPay is the UK market leader in online school payments providing services to three million parents and 8,000 schools. In 2018, ParentPay will help schools collect over £1bn from parents for all their child’s school items, including meals, trips, clubs and uniform. ParentPay’s products help schools save valuable administration time and reduce costs, enabling them to deploy more resources to improving pupil outcomes.

Judges were impressed by Wilson’s ability to spot a problem and create a solution, by kick-starting the market for online payments for schools. They described him as an example of a true entrepreneur who took a number of risks and personal sacrifices, such as re-mortgaging his house and taking on significant personal borrowings, in order to make ParentPay a reality.

Neil Meredith, Partner and Midlands Entrepreneur Of The Year Leader at EY, said:

“Clint has demonstrated unwavering entrepreneurial spirit, combining clear strategic vision with his experience as a fintech entrepreneur, leading ParentPay to become one of the fastest growing tech companies in the UK.

“Clint continues to push the business to new heights, with ParentPay completing two acquisitions in 2018 already, as well as launching a new youth banking service that provides financial education to 8-18 year olds. He is extremely passionate about adding value to schools and continues to drive innovation to keep the business evolving – it’ll be exciting to see where ParentPay and Clint go next.”

Overall UK winner

At the close of the ceremony, brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, co-CEOs of independent forecourt operator, EG Group, were named ‘EY Entrepreneur Of The Year UK 2018 overall winners’.

Founded in 2001, Mohsin and Zuber started their business with a single petrol forecourt in Bury, Greater Manchester which they ran themselves. Today, they operate around 4,500 sites across eight different markets – UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany and USA – and employ over 20,000 people. EG Group is one of the European leaders in forecourt convenience retailing and has recently entered the US market.

Mohsin and Zuber will go on to represent the UK at EY’s World Entrepreneur Of The Year in Monaco next year, to compete with other EY country winners for the global title.

Other winners:

In total nine entrepreneurs from seven companies were selected by an independent judging panel – chaired by Penny Hughes CBE, Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda PLC – each winning an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year UK award in the following categories:

Building a Better Working World – Mohsin and Zuber Issa, EG Group, based in Blackburn – the leading independent fuel station and convenience retailer, operating across eight countries.

Disruptor – Bernhard Niesner, busuu, based in London – a social learning app that helps enable users to learn a language anytime and in anyplace.

Rising Star – Jesse Lozano, pi-top, based in London – education technology, blending physical computing and project-based learning with computer science and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education.

Scale Up – Clint Wilson, ParentPay, based in Coventry – the UK’s leading provider of online payment services for schools.

Sustained Excellence – Lord William Haughey OBE, City Holdings Group, based in Glasgow – an international group providing facilities management services in several countries, using leading technology combined with a multi-skilled workforce.

Transformational Leader – (Joint winners)

Charles Hammond, Forth Ports, based in Edinburgh - owns and operates eight commercial ports on the Firth of Forth, the Firth of Tay, and the Thames.

AND

Kim and Simon Morrish, Ground Control, based in Billericay – offer landscaping and external facilities management across a wide range of divisions and sectors.

The judges also gave a special award to David Bellis MBE, of Oldham-based Innovative Technology, for being a role model to UK entrepreneurs. The judges described David as ‘demonstrating a lifetime of unseen invention’ and in his 80s, ‘David is just getting started’.

EY Family Business Award of Excellence

Also during the ceremony, John Timpson CBE, Chairman of family-owned and run Timpson – a retailer in shoe repairs, key cutting and engraving, as well as dry cleaning and photo processing - was presented with the EY Family Business Award of Excellence.