Awards Moneyhub crowned Business of the Year

THE winners of the BristolLive Business Awards 2022 have been revealed at a ceremony in the city.

After a hiatus last year due to the pandemic, the event returned to Ashton Gate Stadium last week.

Senior leaders from Bristol’s diverse business community gathered to celebrate the achievements of companies across the city region in sectors including tech, manufacturing, engineering, finance and education.

The winners were from organisations that have shown resilience and success in 2022 despite being faced with incredibly challenging economic conditions.

Finance and banking platform Moneyhub scooped three accolades including the overall Business of the Year Award. The company works with major blue-chip organisations including Aon, Nationwide and Vodaphone to provide digital payment solutions. The business, which is based on Victoria Street in the city, recently raised an initial £40 million in its latest funding round.

The awards also recognised individual talent, with social entrepreneur Poku Pipim Osei being named Business Person of the Year. Mr Osei is the founder and chief executive of Babbasa, which supports disadvantaged young people into work, education and business.

A special Outstanding Contribution to Bristol Award was handed to entrepreneur and author Kalpna Woolf, who sits on a number of West of England boards and is the founder and chief executive of BeOnBoard – a company that supports businesses to improve diversity on their governing bodies.

She is also the founder of 91 Ways to Build a Global City, a charity she set up in 2015 which works to build greater understanding and common ground between Bristol’s 91 language communities.

The black-tie ceremony, which included a three-course dinner, saw Channel 4 Hunted and Celebrity Hunted star Ben Owen – a risk and cyber security expert – take to the stage.

Mr Owen previously served in the Royal Air Force, joining the Armed Forces when he was just 17. He has also worked for the Government’s security and intelligence services.

Pete Gavan, editor of BristolLive, said: “It was great to welcome everyone to the awards and to celebrate all that is good in business in and around Bristol. Companies across Bristol showed real determination and an ability to innovate – overcoming the challenges in front of them to produce some really incredible work over the past year, and it was a great evening with some worthy winners.”

The winners were:

» Diversity and Inclusion Award (sponsored by Bristol City Centre BID & Redcliffe & Temple BID): Babbasa.

» Start-Up Business of the Year (sponsored by Foot Anstey): Hybr.

» SME Business of the Year (sponsored by Parmenion Capital Partners LLP): Changing Social.

» Large Business of the Year (sponsored by Evelyn Partners): Graphic Packaging International.

» IAMBOB Special Award (sponsored by Bristol Waste): EDP Training.

» Best Tech Award (sponsored by XLedger UK): Moneyhub.

» Innovation Award (sponsored by Renishaw): PEEQUAL.

» Best Place to Work (sponsored by The Bristol Hotel): Moneyhub.

» Environmental Contribution Award (sponsored by Future Leap): RWA (Royal West of England Academy).

» Manufacturer of the Year (sponsored by Kingston Barnes): Graphic Packaging International.

» High Growth and Ambition Award (sponsored by Etex Group): Little Adventures Nursery Group.

» Your Local Business Hero (sponsored by Firstpoint Logistics): Jake Hitchcock, Unitary Engineering Services.

» Business Person of the Year (sponsored by SpiderGroup): Poku Pipim Osei, founder of Babbasa.

» Outstanding Contribution to Bristol (sponsored by Unitary Engineering Services): Kalpna Woolf, founder of BeOnBoard.

» Business of the Year (sponsored by Business West): Moneyhub.