Marie Woodcock, Head of Partnerships at Santander, toasts the winning businesses.
As a supporter of ambitious SMEs, Santander was proud to sponsor GrowthAccelerator’s first-ever The Brave & The Bold awards, held at London’s One Mayfair on 5 June 2014. The sponsorship was a natural fit. Santander is the largest lender to GrowthAccelerator, a partnership between private enterprise and government that provides high-flying businesses with tailored advice from the country’s leading growth specialists. The event was a celebration of the successes of the 15,000 high-growth businesses currently working with GrowthAccelerator, with eight category winners presented with awards on the night.
“’Brave’ and ‘Bold’ are two words that perfectly summarise the spirit of those who dare to be self-employed,” says Marie Woodcoock, Head of Partnerships at Santander and a member of the judging panel. “Santander is proud to partner with GrowthAccelerator in celebrating the wonderful results we saw at this event, and to reward the hard work that helps ambitious business to achieve success.”
The Brave & The Bold award winners
- Overall winner Automotive Insulations
- Game Changer Automotive Insulations
- Rising Star Beer Hawk
- Market Mover Lintbells
- Innovator Sky-Futures
- Marketing Trailblazer Wiggly Wigglers
- Funding Champion Embryonyx
- Globetrotter Microbiological Solutions
Judging success
“There was strong competition from longstanding and new businesses in The Brave & the Bold awards,” explains Marie. “These were not easy prizes to win, which make them even more valuable plaudits for the businesses celebrated in each category.” Marie and the other judges, who included Stephen Peacock, National Operations Lead at GrowthAccelerator, assessed each application online. “The entrants that stood out were those that took the time to answer each question thoroughly, rather that copying and pasting generic information about their businesses,” says Marie. “The event itself was like no other awards ceremony I have been to. It celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of the businesses by creating fluid and lively networking opportunities for the entrants and VIP guests. Congratulations to all the winners, particularly to Automotive Insulations, our Overall Winner.”
Rewarding growth
The event finished with a Brazilian carnival act and street dancers putting on a show, but The Brave & the Bold awards were about more than a great party. “Awards can be a valuable way for businesses to reflect on what they do well and review their growth strategy for the future,” says Marie. “In addition, the achievements of SMEs are not often publicly recognised. The Brave & the Bold awards offer regional and national recognition for the winners and all GrowthAccelerator-supported businesses.”
“The event itself was like no other awards ceremony I have been to. It celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of the businesses by creating fluid and lively networking opportunities for the entrants and VIP guests." Marie Woodcock, Head of Partnerships
The value of the average SME’s growth to the UK economy has increased by 7%*, and employment has increased by 5%** in the last financial year. For GrowthAccelerator clients, growth has increased by 32% and employment by 36% in the same timeframe. “Santander wants to build a strong partnership with GrowthAccelerator because its mentoring and training is results-based,” says Marie. “We are working hard to grow the profile of the service with our regional teams and Relationship Managers as the GrowthAccelerator service aligns strongly with our goal at Breakthrough to help fast-growth SMEs to achieve their goals. We’ve lent over £3 million to GrowthAccelerator businesses so far.” And that’s another reason to celebrate.
* Source BVD FAME for SME growth
* Source ONS Business Structure Database (extracted by Enterprise Research Council)
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