Stelios Awards for UK Disabled Entrepreneurs 2026 now open for applications

Leading disability charity Leonard Cheshire and Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, creator and owner of the easy family of brands including easyJet (see www.easyHistory.info) and founder and president of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, are proud to launch the Stelios Awards for Disabled Entrepreneurs in the UK 2026 now in their 18th year. 

The Awards offer financial prizes for disabled entrepreneurs in the UK. A top prize of £150,000 and two finalist prizes of £100,000 and £50,000 are up for grabs for this year’s winners, offering 300,000 in cash prizes in total for 2026. 

Since the awards started in 2006 a grand total of £2,150,000 has been donated by Sir Stelios and his foundation to disabled entrepreneurs recognising the exceptional achievements of disabled entrepreneurs who have set up their own company in the UK and excel in their chosen business field. 

Sir Stelios said: 
“We know that people with a disability find it more difficult to get a job. I have long held the view that the best way for a disabled person to get a job is to start their own business and be their own boss! 

As we are in the business of rewarding entrepreneurial excellence, I sincerely hope that offering these substantial cash prizes for those who have started up their own business and are doing well, will mean they will become role models for other disabled people to start their own business and also create jobs and wealth for themselves, their families, their staff and suppliers.”