Meet the Judges who represent the highest standards of assessment and transparency at The Hustle Awards.

Our panel of judges:

1. Sanj Surati, Founder of Tiger Heart and Digital Atelier: Sanj is an award winning multi-disciplined Digital Atelier with over twenty years of experience within the music, fashion and luxury industries.
    
2. Shammi Raichura, Operations Lead at Uber: His current role as head of Cities puts him at the intersection between a company at the forefront of building technology changing the way we live, and the external business and policy enviornment evolving to meet its demands.
    
3. Jake Fox, Head of Startup Relations at South East Angels: As Head of Startup Relations for South East Angels, Jake engages with the startup community and arranges deal flow for the group’s investor members, leading on startup vetting, selection, pitch prep and deal close. 
    
4. Yvonne Nagawa, Founding Member of Black Seed Ventures: Yvonne is a founding member of Black Seed, Europe’s first VC fund for black founders by black founders, empowering the next generation of black-founded global businesses. A seasoned professional in Legal and Compliance, she honed her expertise at leading firms like Standard Chartered bank and Bloomberg.
    
5. Rachel Murphy, Founder of The Grafter: Rachel Murphy blazed a trail through the tech industry from her time at the NHS. Kicking off the now 30 million downloads of the NHS App to selling a building and selling a multi-million pound company in a thousand days, Rachel knows how to make an impact.
    
6. Clare Zhang, Pre-Seed Investor at Playfair Capital: Clare is a pre-seed investor at Playfair Capital. Before VC, Clare was an operator, spending time as a Founders Associate at an early stage B2B SaaS startup and as part of the driver operations team at Uber. She holds a degree in Economics and Finance from Washington University in St. Louis as well as a Masters in Management from London Business School. 
    
7. Deborah B. Williams, CEO and Founder of The Women's Association: Deborah’s overarching mission is to ensure that women and girls across the globe have access to the support and infrastructure necessary to dream freely and turn those dreams into tangible realities.
    
8. Ade Ahmadu, Strategy and transformation professional and ex-Meta: In 2021, driven by a passion to support the black community’s success in the corporate world, Ade founded Cerculate. As an accredited executive and career coach with the Association for Coaching, he assists mid to senior-level executives, especially black men, to navigate and excel in their career paths. 
    
9. Akua Opong, Senior Associate at LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group): Akua is a Chartered IT Professional within the financial services industry. As part of her role, she mentors new starters in the team, including interns and graduates, and provides technology guidance to colleagues across the Group.
    
10. Myles Dickinson, Founder and CEO of Haze: Myles started his first company (Haze Cards) whilst studying finance at university, he sold customisable debit cards online, and to his parent’s dismay, he dropped out in his first year to pursue the business full time. After dropping out he became the youngest person to appear on BBC Dragons Den at only 18 where he also received investment from Steven Bartlett.
     
11. Stephanie Melodia, Founder, Advisor and Podcast host: Ranked as one of the UK’s Top 20 Most Influential Female Founders, Stephanie is an acclaimed public speaker for international tech conferences, business podcasts, marketing webinars, and in-person events – ranging from 1:1 in-depth interviews, to hosting global audiences of 1,000s of entrepreneurs. Areas of expertise cover tech & entrepreneurship, branding & marketing, and gender equality.
     
12. Ashleigh Ainsley, Co-Founder of Colorintech: Ashleigh is co-founder of Colorintech a non-profit aiming to improve access, awareness, and opportunities for ethnic minorities to enter the tech industry. They Run Europe’s largest event for Black Technologists, Black Tech Fest and work with a number of the world’s leading tech companies to run programs to enable students and working professionals to access career opportunities. Having raised over >$250k for DEI work from Google. Ashleigh counts the likes of Meta, WPP, and Bloomberg as some of his Business partners.
     
13. Isobel Cowell, Ex-head of social, Linkedin Content Creator and speaker: Isobel is an ex-Head of Social at a global personal branding agency, LinkedIn content creator and speaker. Since then she’s grown her online presence to 90,000 followers across LinkedIn and Instagram, working with global brands whilst creating content about her career journey and personal branding.

Transparency remains fundamental to The Hustle Awards. Our unwavering dedication is to ensure that each entry shortlisted has earned its position through merit, instilling confidence in the credibility of our evaluation process.

//JUDGING PROCESS, PART 1

Our panel of judges will be divided into groups, carefully analysing all submissions within their designated categories through our efficient online platform. Only the most outstanding submissions will advance to the judging day on May 16th.

//JUDGING PROCESS, PART 2

Gathering in London, our judges will convene and form prearranged groups for the second phase of evaluations. Each submission will undergo in-depth deliberations, allowing every judge to reassess and reevaluate entries.

//SCORING METHODOLOGY:

All scores are thoroughly gathered, cross-checked to eliminate irregularities, and averaged to determine the ultimate winners. The Startups Magazine team exclusively oversees the entire judging process, ensuring fairness and precision.

Explore the categories and submit your entry for a chance to be honored at The Hustle Awards 2024!

To view the categories and participate, click HERE.

For further information and engagement, visit The Hustle Awards Website.