Ahead of the ceremony, to be held at The Mansion House at Old Warden Park, FSB regional chair Charlie Smith said: “We have been overwhelmed not only by the quantity of entrants, but the quality of their entries. Bedfordshire should be proud of the number of successful businesses who are blazing a trail in spite of the recession.”
The judges had a tough time selecting the finalists across the 15 categories. They are:
BEST NEW BUSINESS ATP; Fairies N Frogs; G Whizz Media Ltd; Brainwork Marketing; Mid Beds Tyres Ltd; Crannull Consulting Ltd.
BUSINESS INNOVATION Toybox Day Nurseries Ltd; The Play Doctors Ltd; TaxAssist Accountants Bedford; Harmony Internet Ltd; Silvertoad Ltd.
BUSINESSPERSON OF THE YEAR Mohammed Nadeem; Irena Oliver; Michelle Shulman.
BUSINESSWOMAN OF THE YEAR Luan Hall; Pippa Highfield; Irena Oliver; Kerry Cash; Kathy Birch; Michelle Shulman.
EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR Renata Bernotiene (The White Horse); Daniel Young (Cowley Holmes Accountants).
ENTERPRISING BUSINESS 2K Manufacturing Ltd; The Play Doctors Ltd; Warnerbus Ltd; The Mansion House; Foley Exhibitions Ltd; Cakes by Shelly.
FRANCHISEE OF THE YEAR Riverford; TaxAssist Accountants Bedford; TaxAssist Accountants Dunstable/Leighton Buzzard.
GREEN AWARD 2K Manufacturing Ltd; EcoStyle Ltd.
NETWORKING GROUP OF THE YEAR Beds New Business Network; LB Connect; Team Hurricane; Bedfordshire Businesswomen; Network Luton; Networking@Dunstable.
REAL-LIFE ENTREPRENEUR Zak Resinato (Jagged Edge); Mohammed Nadeem (Namdeem Property Services); Russell Bennett (Recruiter Hub); Amanda Murrell (Amanda Murrell Associates Ltd); David Lambert (Pronto Services).
RETAILER OF THE YEAR Fairies N Frogs; The Four Kings Bar & Café; The White Horse (Bedford) Ltd; Fogarty Formal Wear.
SERVICE EXCELLENCE Warnerbus Ltd; Thomas Cox & Co; Cowley Holmes Accountants LLP; 5th Avenue Hair & Beauty Spa Ltd; The Embankment; Pronto Services.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT Toybox Day Nurseries Ltd; Osborne Morris & Morgan; Stoten Gillam Ltd; The White Horse Pub; 5th Avenue Hair & Beauty Spa Ltd; Premier Solicitors LLP.
YOUNG BUSINESSPERSON OF THE YEAR Zak Resinato (Jagged Edge); Barbara Eyeson (Eyes on Inventories Ltd); Rakash Mattu (Premier Solicitors LLP); Diana Simkauskaite (Diana Simkauskaite).
