Unsung heroes Honoured by the Enterprise Awards

People who have succeeded against all odds to run a small business or have been supporting a business with important functions such as book-keeping or the pay roll were honoured at the prestigious National Business Enterprise Awards Ceremony held at the House of Commons on 13th June 2007

The Business Enterprise Awards are organised by IAB Qualifications for Business and backed by leading organisations such as Lloyds TSB, HM Revenue & Customs, FA Simms, SFEDI, Online 50 and Reed Accountancy.

Now in its ninth year, the prestigious award ceremony gives national recognition, across a variety of sectors, to the outstanding achievements of men and women within small regional businesses. It has proved incredibly popular within the business world and this year attracted a record number of nominations.

Organisations and business people from all sectors of the education community and small business community were invited to apply or nominate an individual for the awards.

"The continued success of the awards has shown how important it is to recognise the efforts of key people working within the small business sector. The IAB is totally devoted to understanding and rewarding the needs of the small business," said IAB's chief executive, Malcolm Trotter.

"These awards are tremendously important for everyone involved in the bookkeeping profession as they help recognise the present and future faces and successes of the industry and we're delighted to be supporting them” said Lloyds TSB Manager of External Affairs, Anthony Thomas.

Michael O’Brien, Chairman of the IAB Council commented, “The award categories judge an area of work that is not often given a high profile, yet all businesses need these skills to succeed. What is also encouraging is the quality of applications, where some of the candidates have achieved so much against all odds i.e. No qualifications, Single parents, Disability or English isn’t their first language.”

Results of the 2007 Business Enterprise Awards are:

Paul Shearman (Winner)		Business of the Year
Fiona Sidwell (Winner)		Business Entrepreneur
Darryl Gould (Finalist)		Business Entrepreneur
Andy Bevan (Finalist)		Young Entrepreneur
Tony Robinson OBE (Special Award for Championing Entrepreneurship in the UK)		SPECIAL AWARD
Christopher Peers (Winner)		Young Entrepreneur
Vijay Dayalji (Highly Commended)		Young Entrepreneur
Jack Butler (Highly Commended)		Young Entrepreneur
Emma Mosley (Finalist)		Young Entrepreneur
Kristina Havenhand (Finalist)		Young Entrepreneur
Julie Grant (Winner)		Book keeper
Janet Jack (Finalist)		Book keeper
Christie Jolliffe (Finalist)		Book keeper
Andy Page (Winner)		Social Entrepreneur
Keith Madeley (Finalist)		Social Entrepreneur
Paul Baron (Finalist)		Social Entrepreneur
Truro College (Winner)		College of the Year
South Downs College (Highly Commended)		College of the Year
City of Bristol College (Finalist)		College of the Year
Carole Mathieson (Winner)		Student of the Year
Jonathan White (Highly Commended)	Student of the Year
Raymond Gray (Finalist)	Student of the Year
Jackie Petherbridge (Winner)	Payroll Professional
Heather Dobson (Highly Commended)	Payroll Professional
Chief Officer Paul Phillips (Winner)	Armed Forces
Sgt, Shona Forse (Highly Commended)	Armed Forces
W.O. Peter Burdett (Finalist)	Armed Forces
Yvonne Strawbridge (Winner)	Lecturer of the Year
Carolyn Holmes (Finalist)	Lecturer of the Year
John Malamatenios (Finalist)	Lecturer of the Year