Five businesses from Wiltshire made the hotly-contested shortlist for the biggest awards contest for small businesses in the South West – and one of them emerged triumphant.
The FSB South West Small Business Awards final, held at Weston-Super-Mare, saw Swindon firms Woodward Financials Limited and Eco Camping Limited, The Beauty Hut Ltd of Trowbridge, Blue Bee of Salisbury and Alfie Jones from Royal Wotton Bassett all nominated for success.
And for Alfie it was a day of personal triumph as the teenage gardener – who set up his business at the age of 16 – won the title of South West Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He admitted he was delighted to win.....
“Winning this award sets in stone that maybe I am doing something right and I’m not just a boy mowing lawns! It's great that other professionals have had a look at what I do and can see that I'm getting somewhere,” he said.
Although none of the county’s other nominees won their category titles, the FSB’s South West Regional Chairman, Lee Nathan, said that even making the shortlist was very creditable due to the quality and quantity of this year’s entry.
“We were delighted to discover that we had a record amount of entries this year with so many small businesses telling us of their triumph against all the odds. I know that the judges found even getting down to a shortlist was a major headache - let alone trying to pick a category winner.
“What this all says, I think, is what we all probably knew – the South West is an absolute hotbed of entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity and small business expertise.”
The full list for the South West area ‘FSB Celebrating Small Business Award’ winners for 2022 is:
Business & Product Innovation Award
One Big Circle Ltd (Bristol )
Family Business of the Year
Cofton Holidays (Nr Dawlish, Devon)
International Business of the Year
Rockit (N2M Ltd) (Bristol)
Environmental/Sustainability Award
ARCO2 Architecture Ltd (Bodmin, Cornwall)
Start-up Business of the Year
Little Adventures Nursery (Worle, Somerset)
Digital/e-Commerce Business of the Year
Padpilot Ltd (Gloucester, Gloucestershire)
Micro Business of the Year
Haven Timber Holdings (Bath)
Self-employed/Sole Trader of the Year
Re Legal Consulting Limited, Rebecca Seeley Harris (Topsham, Devon)
High Growth Business of the Year
Car Connect Bristol (Bristol)
Wellbeing Award of the Year
Beyond Retail (Bournemouth, Dorset)
Community Award
Pappadoms Indian Takeaway (Weston-super-Mare, Somerset )
Young Entrepreneur of the Year (under 30 years of age)
Alfie Jones, the Backyard Barber RWB Ltd (Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire)
The South West final is one of a number of regional finals place across the UK with all of the winners now been invited to take part in the national FSB final in Glasgow in May. For more details click here.
