Shell winner's site saves £3m

A 25-year-old from London is the Shell LiveWIRE young entrepreneur of the year 2009. Robert Matthams won the title and a £10,000 cash injection for his business, Shiply.com, a carbon-friendly transport site similar to eBay.

Shiply.com provides an online marketplace where people list items they need to move, and then receive bids in a reverse-auction format from more than 5,000 rated transport companies going there anyway. By making use of spare capacity in lorries, users can save up to 75 per cent on their deliveries. The business has been going for just over a year and has more than 40,000 customers. It has saved more than 1.6m kg of CO2 by using spare capacity and has saved its customers more than £3m in reduced transportation bills.

Matthams said: "I'm thrilled to have won such a prestigious award. Some people might say it's mad to set up a business in a recession, but I always had confidence in the strength of my business idea. The last 12 months have been amongst the most exciting of my life and I can't wait to take my business to the next level on the back of this award."

Matthams saw off stiff competition in the eight-strong final from entrepreneurial talent spanning a range of sectors from music, design and travel to IT consultancy, software development and technology.

Shell has been supporting young entrepreneurs since 1982, and this year launched the Shell LiveWIRE grand ideas awards, where up to five £1,000 awards are given every month to very early-stage businesses.

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