Jack Frampton wins bronze for Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2026

Young Entrepreneur of the Year is about initiative built outside a formal job description. In my case, that is the Taunton Apprenticeship Evening, the free apprenticeship mentoring I offer school leavers and parents, and the personal brand and content I have built to make the apprenticeship route easier to understand.

None of these were assigned to me. They existed because I saw a gap and filled it.

The biggest of those projects is the Taunton Apprenticeship Evening, which I founded to bring employers, colleges, schools and young people together in one room. It gives school leavers direct access to real opportunities and honest advice, and it gives employers a direct line to motivated local talent.

Building an event from nothing, with venues, exhibitors, promotion and logistics, is where the entrepreneurial side of the award came from.

People often assume you have to choose between being an apprentice and building something of your own. My experience is the opposite. The apprenticeship at Queen's College, Taunton gave me the marketing, design and data skills, and the side projects gave me somewhere to apply them at full speed.

That combination is exactly what I tell school leavers to aim for: earn, learn, and build in parallel.

Taking bronze for Young Entrepreneur of the Year on the same night as silver for Apprentice of the Year made the evening in Marlow one I will not forget. Both results are on the official winners pages: Great British Business & Community Awards silver winners and Great British Business & Community Awards bronze winners.

You can follow what comes next on Jack Frampton on LinkedIn or browse my awards and certificates page.