Gavin Neate

5th April 2022

2020 Winner

Entrepreneur of Excellence Award

After serving in the Forces Gavin began a career as a Guide Dog Instructor. His experience of poorly installed pedestrian crossings led him to invent the world’s first personalised pedestrian crossing for use by disabled people. The solution, called ‘Button’, is installed in an entire town in Scotland and spreading across the UK. This success led Gavin’s company, Neatebox, to address other challenges faced by disabled people. Using smart technology his latest venture ‘WelcoMe’ raises awareness in a business of a visitor’s needs immediately prior to their arrival, empowering the disabled visitor to dictate how they would wish to receive service. Since its launch ‘WelcoMe’ has been installed across 70 venues including The Scottish Government, Deloitte and RBS, just to name a few, and is generating societal change through the removal of Arrival Anxiety at the point of contact between consumer and business.