Michael Acton Smith, OBE

FOUNDER, MIND CANDY

‘Mr Moshi’ Michael Acton Smith is the founder of children’s entertainment company Mind Candy and creator of the BAFTA-award-winning game Moshi Monsters, which now has over 90 million users in 150 territories worldwide. Moshi Monsters offshoots include a music label and film, books, toys and merchandise, and Acton Smith has become known as one of the UK’s most successful gaming entrepreneurs. He began his career launching online retailer Firebox.com with a friend in his early 20s from a rent-free attic and with a £1000 loan from his mother. In the summer of 2014, he announced that he would move to a creative leadership role at Mind Candy, stepping down from his role as chief executive, and recently launched a new app ‘Calm’, which teaches a variety of guided meditations as an antidote to the frenzied digital world we inhabit.