Meet our first finalists

The Bath Business Awards are now just a month away and last week we revealed the judges’ shortlist. In the weeks leading up to the event, we’ll be introducing each of our finalists so that you can learn a little more about their achievements. This week, we meet the hopefuls for the Business Person/entrepreneur of the Year, Start Up Business of the Year and Small Business of the Year awards.

Business Person/entrepreneur of the Year sponsored by Mogers Drewett

Andrew Peters – Green Park Brasserie Andrew Peters, owner of Green Park Brasserie, is now in his 27th year at the helm. Shaping the business on a daily basis, championing the independent restaurant scene in Bath has been his mantra since taking the keys to the former railway station booking hall in 1992.

Chris Butt - Cognisess

Chris Butt founded Bath-based software company, Cognisess, to empower organisations to better understand the talent and potential of their most important asset: people. Cognisess is disrupting a market that has seen little change for 100 years by combining neuroscience, psychology and AI. David Waldren – The Cake Architect David Waldren is The Cake Architect, who followed a crazy stupid dream with absolute certainty, and absolute unfaltering trust in himself and his ideas. He’s risked everything, given his all and worked relentlessly to build his business up from scratch, and has done so with great success. Victoria Heath – Morgan Maskall Ltd Victoria has worked tirelessly to expand the company from a small sole-trader to a vibrant SME, with Clients ranging from high-end Fashion Retailers to Landmark Building Owners. She has taken the family-run beginnings of the business as her ethos for a personal and invested service to every one of her clients.

Start Up Business of the Year

The Cake Architect The Cake Architect is a young company headed by David Waldren, an award winning cake designer with a passion for pushing the boundaries of all things cake. The small team of dedicated individuals are all passionate about making The Cake Architect a successful and thriving business. Donatemyschool Donatemyschool is the UK’S only crowdfunding platform dedicated to raising donations for state schools and academies. Whether for a specific project, like a new school minibus, or an on-going campaign for a list of targets, Donatemyschool makes it easy for schools to appeal to parents and the school community for donations. gosimply Funerals gosimply Funerals is a funeral company with a difference. Dedicated to fair price funerals, it aims to offer beautiful and affordable funerals centring on the person who has died and their family, rather than selling products. Its founders are now in the process of moving the business to a not for profit organisation, to help fund health projects in Bath as well as providing funerals for those in poverty.

Small Business of the Year, sponsored by Richardson Swift

Cognisess Cognisess is a predictive analysis program that revolves around people. In the last year it has attracted international exposure by signing up the world biggest hotel chain, the world’s biggest beer company, China’s biggest recruiter, Australia’s largest provider of apprenticeships – amongst many other clients and partners across the world. Epoch Wealth Management Epoch Wealth Management provides transformational financial planning advice to a small number of wealthy private clients, entrepreneurs and not-for-profit organisations. It gives clients the clarity to make life-changing decisions using software which allows them to see their financial future and the impact their decisions have. Rocketmakers Ltd Rocketmakers designs cuttingedge technology for both disruptive startups, and large, established companies. Having launched in a small office in the Bath Innovation Centre in 2007, Rocketmakers is now one of the UK’S most skilled technology innovators. Nine Feet Tall Nine Feet tall is a Project Management Consultancy that works closely with clients to deliver widespread, positive change - regardless of the organisation size and despite the cultural challenges faced. At its heart is a set of values which strongly resonates with its clients, which inspires and shapes how its team delivers projects. Sub 13 Ltd Sub 13 was born in 2004 when childhood friends brought London-style cocktails to their home city. 14 years later, it aims to serve the best cocktails in a relaxed, fun environment. A newly extended venue gives guests the option to enjoy a cocktail in the swanky ground floor area, or to descend to the vaults below and dance the night away. Over the coming weeks we will feature profiles on the finalists in the other categories: large business of the year; creative sector business of the year; financial, professional and legal business of the year; leisure and tourism award; Bath BID award champion and best place to work. The finalists for Best Place to Work, sponsored by Stone King, were omitted from last week’s paper. They are: Edit Pure Planet Rocketmakers Ltd The Roseate Villa Bath