Virgin Media Pioneers meet the Prime Minister

On Friday 13 February, Virgin Media announced Project Lightning (link) – a £3 billion investment to connect approximately 4 million more UK homes and businesses to ultrafast broadband. To help celebrate this milestone, the Prime Minister visited the Virgin Media Eagle Court office – where he was greeted by some very excited staff and our very own Virgin Media Pioneers.

Nine lucky Pioneers were selected to showcase their products to the Prime Minister. Each entrepreneur spoke with the Prime Minister about their product and answered his questions about their business. It’s safe to say everyone was extremely excited and it was great to hear the Pioneers talk about how they have benefitted from Virgin Media Pioneers. We’ve made a short film that captures the day…

I caught up with some of the Pioneers after the event– here are some of their thoughts from the day:

Juan Garcia Alvarez, Carpe Nux

“It didn’t take much for the Prime Minister to get stuck into Carpe Nux’s selection of luxury nuts. The Prime Ministers favourite nut is the walnut, so it’s no surprise he went right for soy-glazed walnuts (with rum-spiced pecans coming a close second).”

Lindsey Ahmet, Designer Bear Boutique

“It was great to relate to the Prime Minister as he talked about his daughters budding seamstress skills – he said he was going to go home and tell his daughter all about my Designer Bear Boutique.”


Abdul Khan, Pass the Popcorn

Abdul Khan is the founder of Pass the Popcorn, an event management tool that connects film-makers with venues and fundraisers to create pop-up cinemas. "Fact of the day: David Cameron’s favourite film growing up was The Railway Children."

James Day and Josh Shires, Mous

"Mous create innovative phone cases that wind up your headphones – tangled and broken headphones, be gone forever! The Prime Minister is no stranger to this problem and, after having fun trying out the phone cases, ended up taking one home. Score!"

Harriet Green, Sweet Hangovers

“It was great to talk to the Prime Minister about the challenge of helping small businesses to grow, he seemed sympathetic to this challenge."

Ricky Kothari – T-Sticks of London

Days after putting a question to the Prime Minister at the British Chamber of Commerce annual conference asking how the government is supporting international trade for British businesses, Ricky came face to face with the Prime Minister, who enjoyed a cup of Moroccan green tea.

Nat Peat, Gennex

“It was great to talk to the Prime Minister – he was really down to earth and got the concept of Gennex really quickly. He also said well done, which meant a lot,” said Nat Peat, co-founder of Gennex, a company creating amazing sustainable energy solutions."

To find out more about Project Lightning please visit:https://about.virginmedia.com/story/100/virgin-media-invests-in-the-future-of-the-british-economy