BT Business Essence of the Entrepreneur

Now in its third year, the BT Business Essence of the Entrepreneur competition celebrates inspiring entrepreneurs who have found new directions to succeed in business with the help of technology. Previous winners include Toptable.co.uk who pioneered online restaurant booking in the UK and Europe.

Using his intimate portraiture style, the photographer Rankin has captured the 'essence' of this year's 20 winning entrepreneurs. The winners were selected from hundreds of entries from across the UK by a panel of judges including Dragons' Den Peter Jones and Radio 4's Today Programme business presenter Adam Shaw.

For the first time BT Business also awarded a 20,000 business grant to the Most Outstanding Entrepreneur, Michael Welch, founder of BlackCircles.com; an online tyre retailer.