A 26-year-old University of Manchester graduate has officially become the UK’s youngest self-made billionaire.
Sydney-born Mechanical Engineering graduate Johnny Boufarhat has found success with his video conferencing app Hopin, – which he launched just as the UK entered its first national lockdown.
The idea initially came about two years prior to the pandemic when, after graduating in 2018, Jonny was diagnosed with a “mystery” autoimmune disease that left him unable to get out of bed.
It was while he was bedridden at his girlfriend’s flat that the idea of a virtual meeting app was born.
He got straight to work and began coding the programme.
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Johnny Boufarhat launched the video conferencing applast March/ Credit: Hopin
While Hopin may not have been Jonny’s first foray into the world of application development – having already creating a student discount app – it’s certainly proven to be a profitable one.
After finally launching the service last year, Hopin’s user-base has rocketed to over five million and 80,000 organisations worldwide – with American Express and Hewelett-Packard among clients – which has given it a value of £4.1 billion.
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The company’s soaring repuation has left Boufarhat with a net worth of £1.5 billion, placing him in 113th place in the Sunday Times Rich List – a tally of Britain’s wealthiest individuals.
He is forecast to rake in £130 million in 2021 alone.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPIkB9FNNvK/
Hopin is a firm registered in the UK, although it has no offices and Boufarhat now lives in Barcelona with his fiancée, who works with him.
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The company currently employs around 500 staff members, who are mostly in the US and UK.
Speaking to the Sunday Times last month, Jonny said: “I’m very, very work-focused. I just want to be as impactful as I can, in a positive way for the world… I’m boring – I don’t drink, I don’t do anything like that.
“I make sure all my food is organic – that’s the biggest change I’ve made.
“I’m very, very work-focused.”
Hopin’s user-base has rocketed to over five million and 80,000 organisations worldwide / Credit: Hopin
You can read the Sunday Times Rich List 2021 here, and you can find more information about Hopin via its website.
Featured Image – Hopin
UK News
Manchester councillor Bev Craig has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List
Danny Jones
The leader of Manchester City Council and representative for Burnage, Bev Craig, has officially been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours List for 2026.
Councillor Craig, who has held her leadership position since October 2021, received the OBE for her services to local government.
She joins several other regional councillors to be named by King Charles III.
First elected by Burnage residents back in 2011, she has spent more than a decade and a half devoting her professional life to the community, as well as nearly a whole five years of that time at the highest level within the Council.
The University of Manchester graduate has played several key roles throughout her career, including giving back to higher education, helping trade unions, as well as serving as an executive member for adult social care and health during the pandemic, before serving as Deputy and eventually Leader.
Speaking in an official statement, Craig said: “To receive an OBE is a huge privilege, and to get awarded it for what I’ve been able to give back to our city is all the more special.
“Manchester is an incredible city, made special by its people and a place I’m proud to call home.
“Leading our city is a privilege I don’t take for granted, so to get awarded an OBE for what we’ve been doing to make Manchester an even better place to live and improve the lives of Manchester people, while creating a city that is fairer and more inclusive for generations to come, is the real honour.”
With the Council having also confirmed two special NYE events on either side of the Town Hall this year, it feels like a fitting celebration.
Congratulations to Bev Craig on the well-deserved accolade and title; we have no doubt she’ll continue to excel in her post.
You can find the King’s 2026 New Year Honours List HERE.
As for the discussion around knighthoods, many Brits are currently calling for a change in the rules in hopes of making OBE, CBE and MBE, Kevin Sinfield a Sir.
Featured Images — Publicity picture (via Manchester City Council)
UK News
Netflix drops the first trailer for upcoming Peaky Blinders film
Danny Jones
It looks like Christmas has come early for TV drama fans and cinephiles, because Netflix has officially dropped the first trailer for the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie.
Popcorn at the ready – even the teaser alone has got us fired up.
ln just 70 seconds, they’ve managed to pull us right back in, and we cannot wait to see Cillian Murphy back in full-on Tommy Shelby mode.
Not exaggerating when we say we have LITERAL chills.
As you can see, they certainly haven’t scrimped on the budget with the first-ever feature-length Peaky Blinders film, neither in terms of production value nor the cast.
Then again, having already hosted the likes of Sam Neill, Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, Anya Taylor-Joy and others in the series itself, as well as going on to become one of the most successful BBC shows of all time, they were never going to.
We’re sure you spotted plenty of them for yourselves, but the debut trailer for The Immortal Man gives us not only our first glimpses of now Oscar-winning Murphy, 49, back in the saddle (both figuratively and literally) but also fellow blockbuster Irish actor, Barry Keoghan.
Other big names set to appear in the movie – set for a limited release in theatres before launching exclusively on Netflix – include Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth. It still remains unclear, however, as to how any of these characters will knit into the new season.
It’s also worth noting that the trailer shares a little snippet of the historical context, this continuation of the Shelby story is playing into, as we see what looks to be Nazi figures meeting on screen.
Creator Steven Knight has already confirmed that the plot will fast-forward some years to meet back up with Tommy at the outset of WWII and his ancestral home of Birmingham during the Blitz.
Having already confirmed 6 March as the theatrical release date ahead of it going live on Netflix a fortnight later, the anticipation was seriously starting to ramp; this latest look has only added to the tinderbox of excitement.
What do you make of the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man trailer, and will you be watching it?
Emily Sergeant -
27th May 2021 
