Hugh Viney set out to prove that academic rigour and genuine pastoral care do not have to be a trade-off. As founder and chief executive of Minerva Virtual Academy, he has grown a Department for Education accredited, non-selective independent school from 10 students in January 2021 into what the school describes as the UK’s fastest-growing, now teaching more than 1,500 young people aged 11 to 18 across over 60 countries.
That record has made him a finalist for The Cazenove Capital Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the 2026 Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards.
A school built around the student
Viney’s model, delivered through Minerva Virtual Academy, takes a flexible, happiness-first approach aimed at students who, for many reasons, struggle in the mainstream: unsupported special educational needs or mental health difficulties, a demanding sporting schedule, a need to travel, and much more. A significant proportion of those who join, the school says, are former school refusers who had been persistently absent, sometimes for months or years.
Results that counter national trends
The outcomes Viney reports run against the grain of national data. According to the school, students who join often return to an average of 98 per cent attendance, at a time when around 1.4 million children in England are persistently absent. The happiness-first approach, the business says, also lifts academic performance, with GCSE students outperforming the national average in key subjects, more than doubling it in English Language, while the special educational needs attainment gap has narrowed to 0.1 points against a national gap of 14.6.
Purpose-driven growth
Viney frames the academy as a school for any child who does not suit the mainstream, offering a bespoke, flexible system designed to help them fall back in love with learning. He attributes its rapid expansion to a sustained, purpose-driven strategy, one that has also kept teacher retention high even as the profession sees record numbers leaving. That expansion now includes the launch of a first autonomous regional hub, MVA Middle East, centred in Dubai with its own leadership, timetable and events.
His focus on building a genuinely different institution around an underserved group of learners speaks directly to what the entrepreneur category rewards. Finalists across the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards will learn the outcome at Grosvenor House, London on 10 November 2026.
