A paralysed entrepreneur who created one of the UK's most popular apps for the disabled community after an embarrassing incident in a Spanish restaurant has won a prestigious business award. <br /><br />Simon Sansome, aged 41, was left paralysed from the waist down after a bungled chiropractic session resulted in three of his vertebrae being crushed. <br /><br />But an evening out to celebrate his progress in rehabilitation turned into a disaster when it became apparent that the first-floor toilets were not accessible to wheelchair users. <br /><br />As a result, he couldn't make it to the toilet on time - and the experience inspired him to set up a Facebook group rating venues in his home city for accessibility. <br /><br />The page grew quickly - with 1,000 joining in the first few weeks - and has now amassed more than 110,000 members. <br /><br />Simon,from Leicester, then created the Snowball app, which allows the disabled community to review and log the accessibility credentials for amenities like shops, restaurants and hotels. <br /><br />It has just been crowned the winner at the Santander X Awards, a converted accolade for early stage start-up businesses, after it gained 40,000 submissions nationwide in the first year. <br /><br />Since launching, Simon has also been able to enlist the support of Paralympians Hannah Cockroft OBE and Aaron Phipps MBE, to help raise awareness of the platform. <br /><br />He said: “After the accident, I thought ‘there has to be a better way around this’, there must be more people out there like myself who are having trouble in places all over the city. <br /><br />“It has been important for me to recognise that my disability doesn’t reflect anyone else’s - we are all very unique in that regard. <br /><br />“That’s why having the support of the communities and networks I have built up has been invaluable to feeding into the app to ensure it is as accessible to everyone who needs it.” <br /><br />Winning the top prize at the Santander X Awards means Simon and the Snowball Community app will receive £25,000 in funding to grow the business, which Simon wants to use to help with training for staff he hopes to onboard in the near future. <br /><br />He is also exploring the possibility of taking the day-to-day operations of the app in-house, as it is currently outsourced. <br /><br />But in the future, Simon sees a massive opportunity to work collaboratively with some of the biggest retailers in the country. <br /><br />He explained: “The app is generating a huge amount of data, which means we can see patterns and trends developing. <br /><br />“We know from it that 66 per cent of submissions about one prominent high-street retailer all say these stores are not very accessible. <br /><br />“Having this insight will help us to reach out to these businesses and work with them so they can optimise their sites to ensure they are as inclusive as possible.” <br /><br />Another winner at the Santander X Awards, is Hanan Tantush, aged 21, from Cheshire, in the university category for her business Intotum, which creates stylish adaptive clothing for the disabled community. <br /><br />The business idea came after her grandfather had surgery that resulted in his clothes being uncomfortable and irritating. <br /><br />As an aspiring fashion designer and a talented seamstress, Hanan knew there was a simple solution, but was shocked clothing like this wasn’t readily available. <br /><br />She started researching adaptive fashion and creating prototypes, and her ideas came to life throughout her degree at the London College of Fashion. <br /><br />During her final year, her output focused specifically on fashionable clothing for wheelchair users, with Hanan now taking custom orders on her first collection, all created in her Hackney studio. <br /><br />She’s also set to debut the items at London Fashion Week in February. <br /><br />The Santander X Awards is in its 13th year and offers innovative start up and university enterprises the chance to secure equity-free funding. <br /><br />One of the judges this year was musician, presenter and investor Tinie Tempah, who said: “I’ve been investing in exciting new companies for years now and there’s nothing like the thrill of discovering the next big idea and helping to give it the boost it needs. <br /><br />“Judging the Santander X Awards was a great experience - the entrepreneurs delivered inspiring pitches and I know they’re all going to make an impact. <br /><br />“The winners are some truly amazing businesses that have a chance to make a real difference in the world. <br /><br />“I’ve learnt the founder and team are probably the most important factor in making a business investable, and these entrepreneurs really have what it takes to wow investors and get some proper momentum behind their ideas.”
