The Amazon Growing Business Awards registrations are closing soon and, the local champion is calling on Cambridge’s best and brightest entrepreneurial talent to submit entries and get the recognition they deserve.
Cambridge has a rich pedigree in the Amazon Growing Business Awards. The local area is home to 2017 Growing Business of the Year (Turnover £10m – £25m) winner, Telensa from Pampisford. (Image shows John Hibbard presenting the award to CEO Will Franks with host Iain Stirling)
Speaking at the launch of this year’s awards, CEO Will Franks said: “As a small business founded in Cambridge, now transformed into a global market leader, we are delighted to have been recognised for our achievements both in the UK and throughout the world at the Amazon Growing Business Awards. The awards are the ultimate recognition for small businesses and entrepreneurs in the UK and I’d urge local organisations of all shapes and sizes to seize the moment and enter the 2018 Amazon Growing Business Awards.”
Created by Real Business and backed by the CBI, the Amazon Growing Business Awards is now in its 20th year and is the UK’s most established and respected recognition of SME and entrepreneurial success.
Organisations can now submit their entries for the awards through to 14th September in up to 18 categories, with the ceremony taking place on 28th November 2018 at The Brewery in London.
“At Amazon, we are passionate about supporting growing businesses – large or small, urban or rural, up and down the country,” said Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon. “Amazon.co.uk launched in 1998, and 20 years on, tens of thousands of SMEs across the UK have joined us in innovating to improve customer choice and experience. We look forward to shining a spotlight on the best of British business.”
2018 categories open for entries include:
- The Santander Growing Business of the Year Larger Company (Turnover £50m+)
- The Amazon Business Growing Business of the Year: Mid-sized Company (Turnover £25m-£50m)
- The Santander Growing Business of the Year: Smaller Company (Turnover £10m - £25m)
- Growing Business of the Year: Smaller Company (Turnover up to £10m)
- The ECI Partner B2B Business of the Year
- The ECI Partners Consumer Business of the Year
- The Amazon Web Services Digital Business of the Year
- Family-Owned Business of the Year
- Entrepreneur of the Year
- The Amazon Marketplace Export Champion of the Year
- Creative Industries Business of the Year
- Innovator of the Year
- Micro Business of the Year
- Rural Business of the Year
- Young Company of the Year
- Young Entrepreneur of the Year
- The Triumph over Adversity Award
- The Bridges Positive Impact Award
CBI Innovation Director, Tom Thackray, added: “We’re thrilled to once again be supporting the Amazon Growing Business Awards - celebrating the stories the brightest scale-up firms who are making a substantial contribution to the UK economy. SMEs make up 99% of the UK’s private sector businesses and the majority of UK employment.”
Award-winners go from strength to strength
Previous award-winners have grown to become some of the UK’s most recognisable and successful brands, including Revolut, Go Ape, Innocent Drinks, Betfair and Fever-Tree. Signifying the importance of these awards and the value of the SME sector to the UK economy as a whole, previous VIP guests to have graced the ceremony include Bill Gates, Gordon Brown and Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
At last year’s awards, London-based makers of nut butter, Pip & Nut, won the award for Consumer Business of the Year. Since winning, Pip & Nut has gone onto further success by launching across 800 Tesco stores in May 2018, meaning Pip & Nut products are now stocked across the four largest UK supermarkets – Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda. Pip & Nut also raised a further £1m investment in April 2018, allowing the business to accelerate export plans.
Pip Murray, founder of Pip & Nut, said: “I was thrilled to win the Consumer Business of the Year Award last year, amid such a strong set of dynamic brands on the final shortlist. At a time when consumer experience and satisfaction are of utmost importance, I’m pleased to see this category called out in its own right for a dedicated award. Over the past year I have met so many fellow entrepreneurs who take pride in delivering a quality consumer product or service. So I’m sure there is no shortage of excellent consumer businesses deserving of accolade at this year’s Amazon Growing Business Awards.”
The 2018 Amazon Growing Business Awards will also see the creation of a new award, The Bridges Positive Impact Award. Backed by Bridges Fund Management, the specialist sustainable and impact investor, this new award has been introduced to recognise growth businesses that are driving positive change for people and the planet. Bridges portfolio companies like World of Books, Alina Homecare, The Gym Group and Babington.
Philip Newborough, managing partner of Bridges, said: “Over the last 15 years, we’ve seen first-hand that business – powered by the right insight and investment – has a remarkable ability to drive positive social and environmental change. Around the world, there’s a growing recognition that this is the future of business. We hope that the new Positive Impact award will highlight some of the amazing British companies that are helping to bring this new paradigm to life – and making the world a better place in the process.”
Praseeda Nair, editorial director of Real Business, said: “A lot has changed in the world of business since 1998, but arguably what hasn’t changed is what makes good businesses great. This is what the Growing Business Awards has continued to celebrate and support over the last two decades. Winners over the years are now household names, which proves that there’s nothing stopping ambitious businesses joining the ranks of our Growing Business Awards alumni. It all starts with putting yourself out there by nominating your business.”
Entries can be submitted online via: Amazon Growing Business Awards
Visit http://gba.realbusiness.co.uk/