Louie Palmer has been named National Entrepreneur of the Year 2026 by the Peter Jones Foundation for his AI-powered piano learning app, NoteFlow AI.
The competition – run in partnership with leading business advisory firm FRP – saw hundreds of ambitious young founders across the UK compete to turn their business ideas into reality.
At the grand final, Louie impressed a judging panel that included Peter Jones CBE, star of the BBC’s popular show Dragons’ Den; Paul Allen, Partner at FRP; Kunal Gadhvi, Partner and Head of London Restructuring & Insolvency; and Victoria Kisseleva, Partner at FRP Advisory, with his business idea, NoteFlow AI.
NoteFlow AI is an AI-powered piano learning app that instantly converts any audio recording into an interactive falling notes tutorial. Users record any audio and the app generates a playable tutorial in seconds.
Louie’s prize includes a year of tailored mentorship and a £10,000 business grant, which he plans to use to develop NoteFlow AI.
Peter Jones CBE, Chairman of Peter Jones Foundation said:
“The calibre for this year’s National Entrepreneur of the Year competition was exceptional and picking the overall winner was a real challenge. Each of the Finalists demonstrated determination, drive and resilience well beyond their years and I am delighted to have such ambitious young entrepreneurs within the Peter Jones Foundation network. Congratulations to all!”
The competition, which aims to unlock opportunities for young entrepreneurs from underserved and under-represented backgrounds, is open to young people aged 16-21, including the Peter Jones Enterprise Academies.
Louie was one of seven young entrepreneurs that each won regional heats – and £1,000 business grants – to secure a place in the final. The other finalists included:
Bohdan Blahitko, founder of Printify 3d – Printify 3d is a custom 3D printing business, offering custom 3D printed products like sensory fidget tools, lamps and personalised accessories.
Yahya Sottar, founder of The Fullkit Studio – The Fullkit Studio is an innovative high-quality barbering service combining a long-term vision for product development, education and social impact. It goes beyond traditional grooming services by developing a bespoke range of hair styling products and specialist oils designed to help tackle alopecia and hair loss in both men and women.
Melody Okunde, founder of Stanley – Stanley is a robust school management platform that allows teachers to monitor behaviour and student performance, create reports, set homework, reward users and optimise parent communication. It connects directly to a school's MIS to pull and use relevant data to help assist teachers.
Suleymaan Khan, founder of SuleyNova Robotics Ltd – SuleyNova Robotics designs and sells affordable, programmable robotic hand kits that teach young people real hands-on engineering skills. The kits bridge the gap between school-level STEM and industry, giving young people practical hardware experience before they enter further education or apprenticeships.
Raphael Sklinitzis, founder of www.youvotetoday.co.uk – YouVote is a free civic tech platform that helps people understand how their MP votes in Parliament. Users react to votes and build a personalised alignment profile showing which MPs, parties and policy match their views.
Arya Harikrishnan, founder of Arya’s Study Flashcards – Arya’s Study Flashcards is a digital exam preparation business that creates high-quality revision resources for students preparing for competitive admission tests to get into top universities. The current products are flashcards for ESAT, which is the entrance exam for students applying to engineering and science courses at universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial.