Onfido CEO Named as London’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year

The Great British Entrepreneur Awards have selected Onfido CEO and Co-Founder Husayn Kassai as the 2020 Young Entrepreneur of the Year for London and the East of England. The show is now in its eighth year, and was established to recognize the accomplishments of entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom.

The 2020 show was hosted virtually, and was presented in collaboration with Starling Bank. One hundred thirty-five prizes were handed out over the course of the event, going to 135 individual founders who collectively launched 110 companies in 15 different categories. The winners will now compete against one another in a National Finals that will take place at a time and place that is yet to be determined due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions on large gatherings.

According to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the entrepreneurial spirit reflected in the Awards will eventually lead to products that will allow the UK to overcome the challenge of COVID-19.

“Entrepreneurs are creating new businesses and adapting to the crisis, and that’s what we need to happen if we want our economy to bounce back,” said Sunak. “We need all of you to keep inventing, keep taking risks, keep creating new businesses.”

In that regard, Onfido’s selfie-based mobile onboarding solution has been extremely popular during the pandemic as organizations search for secure ways to remotely verify the identities of their customers. The company’s global sales were up 40 percent in the first half of 2020.

“Husayn has a wonderful entrepreneurial story and I’m delighted for him to win this award,” added Francesca James, the Founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards. “I’ll be keeping a very close eye on what he does in the years to come and look forward to welcoming him to the community.”

Onfido made its way onto CB Insights’ FinTech Top 250 list earlier in the summer. Recent additions to the company’s client roster include Delfin Health and the MyCash remittance platform.

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September 28, 2020 – by Eric Weiss