North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) tenant, Gary McFarlane has been named in the Power 100 List – Britain’s Most Influential People with a Disability or Impairment.
The list is the first of its kind to be published in Britain and Sunderland based entrepreneur Gary McFarlane is thrilled to have been included in the list.
Listing 100 of the most powerful, influential and inspiring disabled people in Britain it is, perhaps, no surprise that renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, 72, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease aged 22, tops the list.
However, Sunderland based disabled entrepreneur Gary McFarlane was elated that he had been recognised and included in the list. Gary said:
“The barriers facing disabled people in the UK are often quite daunting, whether it be gaining employment, setting up a business or even just going about daily activities and engaging with service and transport providers. Being included in the Power 100 list is a great honour.
“We have spent many years building our solution to help overcome the barriers faced by disabled people and service providers by using simple, enabling technology in a smart way. Being on a list of such powerful and influential people is great recognition for what we’ve achieved to date and are about to achieve by rolling out a solution that empowers and enables disabled people across a number of sectors.”
Gary relocated from London and co-founded assist-Mi with North East based entrepreneur Neil Herron, is listed in the Business, Finance and IT section. assist-Mi is an app which offers disabled people the ability to request assistance directly on their smartphone from participating service providers with the click of a button and they were winners of last year’s Echo Portfolio Award for Technology. The company has been supported by North East Venture Capital Funds and has recently been incorporated into a Smart City Group of companies ready to roll out technology solutions across the globe. Based in Sunderland they have also recently opened an office in London.
The Power 100 List Top 10 is, also includes Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, the North East based parliamentarian, TV presenter and former wheelchair racer, who makes it in at number two.
Dom Hyams, assistant producer at a BAFTA award winning TV sport production company edited the list and says “This is a list to be proud of. We believe it will successfully inspire young people to fulfil their potential.”
The individuals were chosen by a panel of judges carefully selected for their expertise in and around matters of disability: Dr Mike Nussbaum, specialist disability adviser to Shaw Trust, the national employment, learning and skills charity; Geoffrey Williams, diversity and inclusion specialist at Thomson Reuters; Selvin Brown from the Department for Work and Pensions and Kate Headley, Development Director at the Clear Company. It was edited by Dom Hyams,
Roy O’Shaughnessy, CEO of Shaw Trust, who are the main sponsors of the list said:
“Shaw Trust is delighted to sponsor the first ever Power List of the 100 most influential disabled people in the United Kingdom. The number of disabled people in senior leadership positions across business, politics and sport is increasing all the time. This is due to the dedication and commitment of those included in the Power List who have laid the foundations for future generations to achieve more. The Power List proves that having a disability is no barrier to success.”
Mark Harper MP, Minister of State for Disabled People, welcomes Power 100 as a positive move to “recognise and celebrate an extraordinary range of disabled people and their achievements in all aspects of life, from education, politics and law through to sport and media. I want to congratulate those on the list for what they have achieved and for showing us just what is possible.”
