New awards let Wales’ SMEs celebrate their achievements

This week, FSB has been proud to announce the first of a new annual awards ceremony celebrating small and medium-sized enterprises across Wales.

The FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards will showcase the best that Wales’ thriving SME sector has to offer, with many categories on offer in order to highlight the breadth of talent and expertise that is found across the SME sector in Wales.

There will be an opportunity for businesses to demonstrate how they innovatively use the Welsh language in their business by nominating themselves for the Welsh in Business Award.

This could be through introducing Welsh into the business or increasing its use, or by using it in a way that is innovative and effective for their business. I am sure there will be strong entries for this award from businesses across Wales.

Other awards categories are Business Exporter of the Year, which offers the opportunity for a business to show off exceptional export achievements, contributing to both the local and global economy.

Ethical – Green Business of the Year is the award which will recognise the most ethical, socially responsible or green business in Wales. I know that there are many SMEs undertaking groundbreaking work in this area.

The Business and Product Innovation award is for a business with a bold new business model or innovative product that has delivered dra- matic results.

Many businesses in Wales are thriving in the digital sector, which is why we have included a prize for Digital Business of the Year, which will recognise businesses that have maximised all aspects of e-commerce to achieve growth and strong financial performance through exceptional customer experiences.

As we know, Wales is based on a strong micro-business economy, so we will be honouring Micro-Business of the Year at the awards ceremony in February. There are so many micro-businesses in Wales that are punching above their weight, and this can include sole traders and single office/home office businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

We will be looking for the best Start-up Business of the Year, which will celebrate those who have started a viable business in the past two years, as well as Scale-Up Business of the Year which will feature those business people who have demonstrated true entrepreneurial spirit by taking their business to a new level.

Family firms make a big contribution to the small business sector, and the Family Business of the Year award seeks to reward Wales’ top family-run SME.

We are also pleased to feature an award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year for anyone who is aged under 25 and represents the future of entrepreneurship in Wales.

We will be featuring an award for Employer of the Year, someone who invests in employees and sees the benefits of this by attracting, developing and retaining staff in Wales.

We will celebrate a business or individual who has achieved outstanding performance and results while overcoming adversity in the Triumph Over Adversity award, before finally awarding the prize for Overall Winner, who will be chosen by judges from the winners of all the other categories.

These awards are an opportunity to highlight some of the most exciting talent in Wales today. Wales’ economy is based upon the effort and achievements of small business owners, and I am pleased that FSB will be celebrating small businesses and the self-employed at the awards in February.

Nominations for the awards are open and will close on December 1. For more information on nominating a business or sponsoring an award, go to www.fsbawards.co.uk