SHEREEN DANIELS

Hr Rewired

One of the UK’s most well-known HR consultants, bestselling author Shereen Daniels has more than 87,000 followers on LinkedIn. She uses the platform to highlight the experiences of Black professionals in the workplace and seeks to help organisations become comfortable with the uncomfortable when it comes to conversations about race and equality.

Before amassing her sizable online following, Daniels headed up HR at the Metropolitan Pub Company and then Caffè Nero. Today, she is the Managing Director of HR rewired, an advisory firm specialising in anti-racism and racial equity.

Holly Branson

Virgin Unite

The daughter of Virgin’s founder, Holly Branson currently works as the company’s Chief Purpose and Vision Officer, but also serves as the Chair of Virgin’s not-for-profit arm, Virgin Unite. She also co-founded Big Change, a partner to various charitable projects, in 2012.

Although she uses LinkedIn to share updates from Virgin’s various companies, Branson is known for talking about leadership and entrepreneurship, and a range of causes that are important to her, such as gender and racial equality.

James Caan Cbe

Hamilton Bradshaw Group

Building businesses since 1985 when he founded executive headhunting firm Alexander Mann, James Caan CBE has also founded management advisory firm Hamilton Bradshaw and serves as the Chairman of Seed Capital investment company Recruitment Entrepreneur.

Caan also boasts a whopping 3.4 million LinkedIn followers and provides them with career tips and various business insights from a recruitment expert and serial entrepreneur. He also engages with his huge following to find out more about what they want from their careers.

Somi Arian Smart Cookie Media

Somi Arian founded Smart Cookie Media, which aims to help established brands stay relevant in the modern digital age, in 2015, and has served as the company’s Managing Director since its inception. She is also the founder and CEO of the Web3 education platform InPeak.

In addition to posts on the metaverse, NFTs and Web3, her sizable LinkedIn following of more than 81,000 followers is treated to Arian’s insights on digital transformation and how women can achieve greater prominence in the worlds of business and technology.

Azeem Azhar

Exponential View

The founder and former CEO of PeerIndex, a firm that helps businesses to identify who and what is influencing their customers, Azeem Azhar has worked as an advisor and mentor and served on various company boards over the past twenty years.

As far as influencing goes, Azhar launched his own podcast, Exponential View, in 2015 and often shares his opinions on blockchain, climate tech and venture capital with his 425,000-strong LinkedIn following.

Theo Paphitis

Theo Paphitis Retail Group

With 200,000 followers on LinkedIn, many are familiar with Theo Paphitis through the business advice and posts about dyslexia that he shares on social media.

However, the former Dragon made his name in the business world as Chairman of his eponymous retail group, a position he has held for more than 27 years. Many also know Paphitis for his 3,500-strong business network, Small Business Sunday, and as the former Chairman of Millwall FC.

Lisa Unwin

Reignite Academy

A former Director of Brand & Communication at Deloitte, Lisa Unwin is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Reignite Academy, a company set up to help lawyers navigate successful long-term careers.

She is passionate about helping women have sustainable, fulfilling and rewarding careers and this is reflected in the content she posts on LinkedIn, where she has previously been ranked as one of the UK’s Top Voices on the platform on more than one occasion.

Tej Lalvani Vitabiotics

A former Dragon on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, Tej Lalvani has been the CEO of leading vitamin company Vitabiotics since 2015. During his tenure as CEO, he led Vitabiotics to a Queen’s Award for Innovation in Vitamin Research in 2018, meaning the firm became the first vitamin company to receive the award twice.

With just shy of 340,000 followers on LinkedIn, Lalvani regularly provides tips for success and entrepreneurial insights to a very impressive following.

Carol Stewart Abounding Solutions

Ranked as one of the UK’s Top Voices on LinkedIn five times, Carol Stewart is one of the most decorated influencers on the platform. She is widely known for challenging gender and racial inequality and for her inspiring posts on female and introverted leadership. Stewart also hosts the Quietly Visible Podcast which goes into more depth on the latter topics.

However, as the founder of Abounding Solutions, Stewart has been coaching female executives and senior leaders to raise their visibility and achieve their goals for many years.

SARA DAVIES MBE CRAFTER’S COMPANION

One of the Dragons on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, Sara Davies MBE started crafting product retailer Crafter’s Companion from her university bedroom in 2005 and has gone on to grow the platform into all of Europe and the US. The multi-award-winning entrepreneur and MBE recipient also invests in and advises many other firms.

Davies has just shy of 300,000 followers on LinkedIn and regularly provides glimpses into her personal life on the platform, whilst also discussing women in business and life as an entrepreneur.

Timothy Armoo Fanbytes

Serial entrepreneur Timothy Armoo started his first company, EntrepreneurXpress, at just 17, and went on to sell the business. He has since founded the marketing company Fanbytes, which was acquired by Brainlabs in one of the biggest deals in the industry in 2022, and still serves as the company’s CEO.

An investor that was previously featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, Armoo is also widely known by his 62,000+ LinkedIn followers for his insights on how marketers can reach Gen Z and his personal tales on the realities of running a business as a young CEO.

PROF. AMANDA KIRBY DO-IT SOLUTIONS

Prof. Amanda Kirby is the most active neurodiversity campaigner on LinkedIn. With around 50,000 followers on the platform, she regularly shares facts and research relating to dyspraxia, dyslexia, ADHD and other forms of neurodiversity, and outlines the business case for hiring neurodiverse talent.

In addition to her role as Honorary Professor at Cardiff University, Kirby has also served as the CEO of Do-IT Solutions, a tech-forgood company that she helped co-found back in 2012.

Matthew Mcneill Love Thursday

Matt McNeill Love is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Thursday, a dating app that despite only working on the day of the week that it is eponymously named, McNeill Love and fellow co-founder George Rawlings have managed to make a success.

One factor behind Thursday’s remarkable success story is its incredible knack for marketing. Thanks to quirky PR stunts that have gone viral and guerrilla marketing tactics, the dating app has made its name disrupting the norm in a competitive market and become one of the UK’s most talked about brands.

Richard Lim Retail Economics

An expert in retail, Richard Lim is the current CEO of Retail Economics, an independent economics research consultancy focused on the UK consumer and retail industry. His distinguished career in the sector also includes seven years as Head of Retail Insight and Analytics at The British Retail Consortium.

Lim uses the retail industry knowledge he’s built up over the years to share data and insights and provide regular updates on the retail industry to his LinkedIn audience of more than 9,000 followers.

Leena Nair Chanel

The current Global CEO of iconic luxury fashion house CHANEL, Leena Nair spent more than 30 years at consumer goods giant Unilever, working her way up the company to become its Chief Human Resources Officer. She is also a Non-Executive Board Member at telecoms giant BT.

Nair is widely known for her exploits on LinkedIn, where she often shares life lessons, business insights, HR tips and leadership advice. She even used to publish a monthly newsletter, ‘Learn With Leena’, on the platform.

Lynda Gratton Hsm Advisory

Although Lynda Gratton has helped train generations of business professionals as a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School for 34 years, she’s also used her incredible business expertise to create HSM Advisory, a research advisory group, and successfully run it as CEO for more than 15 years.

As a business influencer, Gratton is known for sharing tips online about how to prepare for the future of work, a subject on which she has written multiple books, and won awards for.

Ben Francis Gymshark

Ben Francis is the CEO of Gymshark, a fitness apparel and accessories brand that he founded back in 2012 and led to a unicorn valuation in 2020. He also founded and is a former Director at clothing brand Manière De Voir.

With more than 440,000 followers on LinkedIn, Francis has a remarkable following, and his posts on the platform include everything from men’s mental health to insights into his own personal and professional journey.

Cindy Forde Planetari

Cindy Forde is an author, speaker and the founder of Planetari, a multi-disciplinary education platform that empowers children to be the innovators and entrepreneurs who build a better world.

The former Cambridge Science Centre CEO has dedicated her career to transforming how we understand and act as human beings towards the Earth. An important distinction with Forde’s online posts, however, is how she draws attention to the importance of ensuring greater diversity in the conversation around the climate crisis. 