Media entrepreneur wins ‘UK Business Leader of the Year’ award

Ben Nicholls was left “amazed and honoured” to land the prestigious title for the Greater London category for the work on his PR firm, JamPrime.

Ben (39), from Bermondsey, London, launched his first digital media company and newswire, Jam Press, six years ago, before branching into PR and comms in 2022 with Jam Prime.

Nicholls and his co-founder and wife, Jody Knowles, now employ over 20 people and their business turned over seven figures last year.

JamPrime specialises in personal branding and turning people’s experiences and successes into ready-to-publish articles.

Utilising the power of his news agency to build the PR arm, the entrepreneur has worked with big name brands such as TUI, Domino’s, Hewlett Packard and Virgin Media, as well as popular influencers and independent business owners.

“I am amazed and honoured to have won this award,” he said. “The JamPrime teams work so very hard, this award is a testament to their hunger and drive to build this business with me.

“I couldn’t have done this without them or Jody, who is my better half in both marriage and business.

“When I launched JamPrime, I didn’t really expect it to take off the way it did – or at least not this quickly.

“It’s been a whirlwind, especially working with established brands such as TUI and Virgin Media, to name but two of the incredible companies on our roster.

“I’m a journalist at heart and use what I’ve learned from my years in newsrooms to bolster our efforts in PR.

“It’s a new way of working; our clients get expert advice from our journalists and media professionals, and get access to our newswire, which is all but unheard of in our industry.

“We become the middle ground.”

An ex-journalist who has sat in newsrooms of some of the biggest national papers in the UK, Nicholls has his finger on the pulse of what the UK media wants.

As for what’s next, he has big plans for the future.

Nicholls is venturing into publishing with several outlets of his own currently in development, as well as coming up with new ways to work with PR firms who are in need of expert advice from journalists.

He added: “I can’t give away too much just yet but it’s an exciting time for us.

“For now, I’m looking forward to celebrating this win with my team and meeting up with them for our annual ‘JamFest’ later this summer.”