“No one puts opportunities on a plate for you”

Do it yourself

Prior to judging, we asked Ned what it would mean if he won. He replied that it would be a “huge honour”, which would “recognise the commitment, resilience, ambition and personal growth that I have demonstrated since the age of 17”.

Indeed, as Ned told the Let Me Call My Manager podcast last year, he wasn’t your typical sixth-form student. His free periods weren’t for playing football with his friends; he was off at professional networking events.

“No one’s going to put opportunities on a plate for you,” he said of the guiding philosophy he began developing, even as a teen. “Create it for yourself, something bespoke to you which didn’t exist before.”

Ned recalled attending hospitality meet-ups, where he’d stroll the floor introducing himself to every hotelier in the room, despite being by far the youngest person in attendance. That led to a student mentoring scheme and a graduation ceremony at the Grand, a five-star hotel in York, where he introduced himself to Simon Mahon, then the group’s general manager, and shared his career plans. This exchange landed him his first hospitality role, at the Grand, at 17.