East Durham Business ServiceCelebration of Enterprise Awards 2008
On the evening of the 22nd of October East Durham Business Service hosted the first annual East Durham Celebration of Enterprise Awards at Shotton Hall, Peterlee. The event was a resounding success with over 150 people in attendance including representatives from 40 new businesses.
The celebration event has run in the past but the awards have been added for the first time this year. The event celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of the people of East Durham and the awards further acknowledge their success, applications for entry were high and the judging panel commented on the quality of these applications and their difficulty in selecting the final winners. Applicants to the awards had to have started their business in the District of Easington within the last 12 months making the awards a real level playing field and adding an extra dimension to traditional awards categories.
The winners of the categories were as follows:
Sales Award sponsored by Seaham Safety Services Ltd – Pixies Designer Clothing: Janet Anderson - Pixie’s retails exclusive designer wear for men, women and children via the internet in the UK and overseas. Janet a mother of three was determined to spend more time with her children so came up with a highly successful business she could run from home.
Technology Award sponsored by Seaward Electronic Ltd - Capital Enforcement: Chris Pearson and Steve Newby - A bailiff service to local authorities in London, using automatic number plate recognition technology to catch non payers of vehicle related fines. The award was accepted on behalf of the proprietors Chris Pearson and Steve Newby by Chris’s partner Debbie and Steve’s wife Lynne.
Best Business Idea Award sponsored by NTE Limited - Younes & Co: Natalie Younes – Provides specialist legal advice for people on low incomes, focussing on housing, debt, welfare benefits and employment, the business is based on Seaside Lane in Easington.
Community Award sponsored by XE UK Ltd - Eastshaw Consultancy: Julie Wilson – Works with the community and third sectordelivering training and educational projects and developing software for evaluation and performance review.
Young Entrepreneur Award Sponsored by Shredderman - Fresh Start Home Finance: Michelle Burnham: 23 years old – Provides mortgage and insurance products covering an area from Redcar to North Shields and has branched out into buy to let investments abroad. Michelle was the 500th person to enquire about setting up her business as part of the Be Enterprising programme.
The overall winners of the ‘East Durham New Business of the Year 2008’ award, sponsored by East Durham Business Service were Mark Weber and John Paul of Castledene Limited. The Castledene group is involved in Property Development, Property Investment and Construction; the business took commercial premises earlier this year at Novus Business Centre and have expanded rapidly since then, taking on 13 members of staff in their first six months. Whilst many construction related businesses are struggling in the current economic climate Castledene have found a niche through development of properties, refurbishment and construction throughout the North East, providing a complete package of services. The company focuses heavily on proactive sales tactics and this is reaping rewards the other key to their success are their highly skilled staff, with many years of experience in sales and property management they are helping to drive the business forward. Their success in a troubled sector is part of the reason for their selection in conjunction with their financial success and significant expansion.
John commented on winning the award ‘It was totally unexpected but we are thrilled, we had been short listed for an earlier award and missed out so we were sure we could not possibly have won the main prize. It was fantastic when our name was called out, I feel success is 10% luck and 90% hard work and we have worked very hard so it is good to have this recognised through the award’.
The event was organised by East Durham Business Service who through the Be Enterprising programme have assisted many of East Durham’s new businesses establish themselves. Susan McGregor Marketing Officer commented ‘A lot of effort was put in by all members of EDBS staff to make the event a success, this has really paid off, there was a fantastic buzz at the event with businesses taking advantage of their captive audience and this fantastic networking opportunity. The best part of all was to see how genuinely thrilled all of our winners were and to be able to reward their hard work, we are all very much looking forward to next years awards now’.
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