Member Article

Finalists for the North East Entrepreneurial Awards are announced

The Entrepreneurs’ Forum has unveiled the finalists for its online 2020 North East Entrepreneurial Awards.

They are comprised of five categories that recognise outstanding individuals at each stage of the entrepreneurial journey.

The shortlisted finalists for Emerging Talent – those who have built a business of outstanding potential trading for six years or less – are: Rez Gachcar (Mud Daddy), Andrew Mackay (Coleman James) and Doug Dinwiddie (White Digital).

Recognising those achieving strong, sustainable growth in revenue and profit, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award will be contested by: Nagma Ebanks-Beni (Prima Cheese), Simon Bailes (Simon Bailes Peugeot) and Glen Hall (Talent Insight Group).

The Scale-up Award acknowledges business owners who have navigated the challenges created by the pandemic and are on course to achieve their future growth ambitions. They will have led their company to achieve 20 per cent plus annualised growth in either turnover, profit or employee numbers for the past three years. The shortlisted entrepreneurs are: Dan Foskett (Connection Flooring), Vikki Jackson-Smith (J&B Recycling) and Zaffar Iqbal (Bentincks Furniture).

The winners of the Mentor of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement awards is kept a closely guarded secret and will be unveiled during the awards week

For the first time, the North East Entrepreneurial Awards is being delivered online with winners being announced via the week commencing Monday 8th February.

Elaine Stroud of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum said: “2020 has been a unique year to say the least and while we can’t celebrate as we usually do, we still wanted to acknowledge the exceptional work of those who are leading dynamic and growing businesses in the region.

“Our 2020 finalists have demonstrated incredible leadership skills and are on track to achieve fantastic things in exceptional times.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by News Gathering .