Finalists
Whose name will be on the trophy?
JUDGING of more than 30 finalists in 11 categories of The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards 2008 is now taking place across the district ahead of the gala awards evening in St Ives on Friday November 7, when the winners will be announced.
One of the companies victorious in the nine corporate categories will become the overall Business of the Year. Here we look briefly at those in contention.
Business Development, sponsored by HSBC Bank
TO win the Business Development Award 2008 the three finalists will have to demonstrate how their companies, with fewer than 20 employees, have progressed in line with their business plan, as well as showing growth in turnover and profit and in developing products or services.
The three finalists are Cambs-PAT (UK) Limited, of Perry, which delivers portable appliance testing for health and safety compliance, ISC Software Solutions, of Huntingdon, which provides operational and financial management programmes, and St Ives-based property company Maxine Lester Residential Lettings, which has won awards in the last two years' competitions.
Cambs-PAT has retained 90 per cent of its customers, while new business attracted has helped to grow turnover from £74,000 in 2004 to nearly £500,000 last year. The company was also a Business Awards finalist in 2005 and 2006.
Although the parent company was founded to deliver compliance testing in commercial and public buildings throughout the UK, it has opened a subsidiary to market villa rentals in Florida.
ISC SS was created through a management buy-out of a loss-making division of ISC Computers plc. The activity was due to be closed before it was rescued by the husband and wife Laos family that now runs it in a deal with the plc that retains a 20 per cent interest.
It has turned pre-acquisition losses of £350,000 into year one profit of nearly £25,000 and now, in its fifth year, expects to clear £150,000 on turnover expected to total £1.1million after moving into different core markets. Two months ago it opened an office in India.
Maxine Lester's is one of the newest rental letting agents in Huntingdonshire, and has grown rapidly since it opened almost exactly three years ago. Owner Maxine Lester believes her company has already grown fourth largest in the market with 10 per cent of the total and annual turnover of £350,000 following growth of 85 per cent in the last year, significantly about the 69 per cent target.
But she says that, while the encroachment of estate agents into the residential lettings market in a contracting sales market could have threatened that trend, her company has seen no reduction in market share.
Business Person of the Year, sponsored by Leeds Day solicitors
Business Person of the Year is always a keenly contested category of the awards. This year's finalists are from a diverse range of businesses - Stephen Birch of Bierce Technical Services Limited, in Huntingdon, Maxine Lester, head of her eponymous residential lettings agency in St Ives, and newcomers Deborah Armiger and Rachel Warwick, who jointly founded Nutty Tarts in Eynesbury.
Stephen's business, a spin-off from a property consultancy that he rescued from administration, specialises in energy-efficiency projects for commercial clients in the domestic housing sector. In just 18 months, as well as investing heavily, he has doubled the number of staff, increased income by 25 per cent and added 50 per cent to his client base. It has also expanded into new markets and recently won a new contract worth more than £1million.
Maxine Lester burst onto the property market in 2005 and into the Awards the following year, when Maxine Lester Residential Lettings was judged Huntingdonshire's best New Business. Last year, after substantial growth, it carried off the Business Development prize, so Maxine Lester is hoping to make 2008 hat-trick year.
Her company already has 10 per cent of the lettings market, but her target of 25 per cent could be made more difficult by estate agents moving into lettings in a slow house-sales market. She believes her company has more to offer than others, providing better information to tenants and client landlords.
The company is also a strong supporter of charities, including the Papworth Trust, which works to help people with physical and learning disabilities.
It is not many years since a business identified as Nutty Tarts would have been trading under a red light, rather than a spotlight. But the Eynesbury firm is more cookie than nookie, having started as a school fund-raising venture four years ago.
Now the two founding mums, Deborah Armiger and Rachel Warwick, plans to double the modest turnover of their eco-friendly biscuit-baking company in the next year, expand their retail operation, develop new products and employ additional staff.
Employee of the Year, sponsored by Anglian Water
Every business leader knows nothing is possible without dedicated employees going the extra mile - and often rather further - and taking extreme pride in their contribution to the employer's success. The award celebrates that dedication. Unusually, two of the finalists are council employees.
This year's finalists are Corrine Garbett, who is well known to many businesses as Huntingdonshire District Council's sustainable economic development manager, Cathy Inman from Cambridgeshire Trading Standards, who protects vulnerable people from rogue traders, and Lee Stubbings, who is deemed outstanding among the 67 employees of Huntingdon's Vindis Audi.
Corrine is not only supremely effective in promoting the interests of Huntingdonshire companies across the East of England and fighting for extra funding to support them, but she is also very effective in running her supporting team and in fighting business's corner within the council, her managers say.
Cathy, who is said to be passionate in her protection of vulnerable people, has developed "no cold calling zones" across the county to exclude exploitation by rogue traders, distraction burglaries and other doorstep crime to which vulnerable householders can fall victim. She oversees a rapid response team in partnership with Cambridgeshire police, and has personally intervened on the doorstep to make a rogue trader hand back £1,000 he had just taken from an 80-year-old.
Lee, who is a grandson of the company's founder, combines enthusiasm, passion and product knowledge with supreme effort, according to his general manager Paul Phelan.
"His appetite and enthusiasm are unmatched, and he has a large customer following."
Employer of the Year, sponsored by social landlord The Luminus Group
A SOFTWARE company, one of Huntingdon's most luxurious hotels and a transport and motor engineering firm, which has recently resumed full activities after a disastrous fire, will be trying to convince the judges that they are the best employers in Huntingdonshire.
They will need to impress the panel on the working conditions they offer, how they offer staff working flexibility and non-salary benefits, and look after their training and development needs.
Finalists in this category are Universally Speaking of St Neots, the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel and Tackwood Services of Eaton Socon.
Many readers may unknowingly be using games software on their Playstations, X-boxes or Wiis created in part by Universally Speaking. The firm specialises in making local language versions of games, quality assurance and audio service, such as voice-overs. It has worked on games such as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Little Big Planet.
Just three years old, the company has increased staff numbers fivefold in that period, now employing 24 staff and turning over more than £1million a year.
The four-star Huntingdon Marriott needs little introduction to most people in the district - even those who cannot afford to patronise it. Nor is it a stranger to The Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards, having been a winner in 2006 and again last year.
The group's strategy is based on the philosophy that, if it looks after its employees - they are called "associates" - properly, they in turn will look after their guests. The success of that plan depends on a robust process of recruitment, induction, training, development and measurement to ensure employees are happy and the hotel's business aspirations are delivered.
Tackwood Services has been a family business since its formation in 1971, expanding further after the founders' children joined the business. Turnover trebled between 2004 and 2007, and the workforce grew to 17.
But disaster struck in February this year when the building and all its contents were destroyed by fire. Remarkably, in the eight months it took to get back to the previous level of activity, Tackwood managed to keep on all its employees.
Environment and Community Award, sponsored by the Environment Agency
To prevail on environmental grounds the three finalists must convince the judges they have done most to minimise their environmental impact. Alternatively, or additionally, they must demonstrate a deep commitment to the community in which they operate.
Contesting the final are a St Ives business coach, a Godmanchester insurance broker, both with strong charitable credentials, and Cambridgeshire Trading Standards, with an innovative scheme to counter under-age drinking in St Neots that is now being rolled out nationally.
Mike Yates is managing director of 121 Business Limited in St Ives. He works with small companies, many of them very small, helping them improve their business opportunities, often by encouraging them to think more objectively about their own firms.
But is his extensive charitable work with the Papworth Trust, Sue Ryder Care and British Heart Foundation that has attracted the judges' attention. He believes the business community can have massive impact on local social and community issues.
Rather than spend their Christmas bonuses on themselves last year, 60 staff at specialist motor insurance broker Sureterm Direct gave £6,000 to boost The Hunts Post's New Life Appeal for Hinchingbrooke Hospital's maternity services. The original intention had been to buy equipment for a tiny baby who receives life-saving treatment at the hospital to save him having to travel there so often.
But the sum they raised was far more than the kit cost, so they gave the balance to the New Life fund.
Trading Standards' Community Alcohol Partnership in St Neots brought together traders, residents, local authorities and emergency services to tackle the town's youth alcohol problems. It has almost wiped out instances of under-18s being found in possession of drink and has almost halved anti-social behaviour in the area. What's more, CAP has not displaced the problem to another location, as sceptics feared, and is now to be copied by other areas with the Home Office's endorsement.
Innovation Award, sponsored by the Greater Cambridge Partnership
Success will involve convincing the judges of successful introduction of a new idea, technique or technology that could be a product service or process. Last year, the winner went on to become overall Business of the Year.
The three finalists include one of last year's runners-up in this category, which, in common with a second finalist, is involved in security, and a new approach product-labelling compliance for shops whose principal customer-base does not speak much English.
Tensor plc, from Hail Weston, has developed a fingerprint-reading system that can detect whorls, arches and loops through the oil, coal dust or other contaminants that defeat convention fingerprint-recognition technology. It was delivered on the back of the company's advanced biometric systems.
The Terrorism and Crime Prevention Agency, based in Brampton, was created to address the impact that acts of terrorism and criminality can have on businesses.
It has developed Project Zeus - named after the Greek god who protected the weak and punished the wicked - which includes training staff in terrorist prevention tactics and in evaluating the security of their premises. It has also developed a "grab bag" that it says can protect up to 10 employees.
Cambridgeshire Trading Standards developed the EATING project in response to the growing number of shops being opened to supply products aimed at migrant workers. Many products are labelled in the host language which, although perfectly understood by the migrants, is incomprehensible to English-speakers and does not, therefore, comply with EU labelling regulations. The scheme is an innovative way for an enforcement authority to deal with that at the same time as developing social integration.
Internet Award, sponsored by Huntingdonshire District Council
With e-commerce so important to an increasing number of companies, an attractive and customer friendly website is a must. This award recognises the impact that a new or existing company website has had on winner's business. It might involve use of the internet to attract new customers, communicate with the marketplace, a new design or structure of the site that has had a positive effect, e-procurement or service fulfilment.
Three firms are in the frame: Blue Prawn Design, of Eynesbury, ISC Software Solutions, in Huntingdon, and Silver Wire Designs, in St Neots.
Blue Prawn, from Eynesbury, has been around since 2006, offering website design and hosting to new and established businesses whatever their e-commerce budgets. It prides itself on offering innovative design solutions and continuing relationships with clients. It uses the website as a shop window to its services.
All the website solutions offered by ISC Software Solutions focus on enabling clients' own staff to add new content easily, while building a visually stunning website using a variety of design and advanced web editing skills, the company says.
Most people are not professional web designers, but everyone wants a website that looks professional and appealing that they can keep constantly updating - the nub of ISC SS's website offer.
Jewellery maker Silver Wire Designs relies heavily on its website for sales, not only in the UK but for a developing market around the world. Appropriately, the site was designed by the company's owner Semina Lewis, who also uses it to compile a marketing database of potential new and repeat customers.
New Business, sponsored by Artisan Developments (UK) Limited
THE New Business Award is one of the most exciting categories in the event. Will the winner go on to be a solid, successful local company? Or is it the seed-bed for a multinational of the next generation?
Too soon to tell, of course, but the judges will be looking for a sound business plan that acknowledges the competition, how the business has performed against - and, perhaps, adjusted on the hoof to changing economic circumstances - and how realistic its plans look for the coming three years.
In the frame as this year's finalists are a nail salon from St Ives, an innovative off-licence in St Neots and an expanding property-services company from Huntingdon.
Clare Moss and Lyndsay McIntosh set up The Nail Retreat in October last year, five years after they first met as trainees at Huntingdonshire Regional College and following 18 months of meticulous planning. The work clearly paid off. Full appointment books from day one have led to extended opening hours and recruitment of additional staff to cope with the workload.
Even in the current economic climate it, like many other Huntingdonshire businesses, is thriving - to the extent of being more than 70 per cent ahead of forecast turnover. The Smiling Grape Company is even younger, having been founded just a few months earlier this year by Matt Ellis as the only independent off-licence within 20 miles of its St Neots base.
But independence is not enough: selling wine needed a different approach, Matt believed. Not only would he stock original wines from different growers, but he would make it easy for customers to choose the wine that was right for them, their mood, their food and their occasion - even wines to match a CD or a DVD. So far it has worked.
Bierce Technical Services was formed from a buy-out from a property consultancy that managed energy-efficiency projects in the domestic housing sector.
After the company went into administration, former director Stephen Birch and his partner Leigh Holden offered to buy it and its contract-base.
The business has grown strongly, enabling it to invest in capital equipment and expand its services and client base. Rising energy costs and the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates have expanded business opportunities that Bierce has grabbed.
Retailer of the Year, sponsored by D H Barford and Company
The winner will show high levels of customer care, successful sales and strong marketing, as well as an innovative or entrepreneurial approach to building the strength of the business.
On the starting blocks are a previous award winner, a brand-new off-licence with a new approach and a company that started at the school gate.
The George Hotel and Brasserie, in Buckden, is one of several in the empire of Anne Furbank, who is having a particularly successful year in the awards stakes.
The three-star 12-bedroom hotel with its one-rosette restaurant is regularly praised by clients for its adaptability and approachability, and prides itself on its customer care and staff's commitment to hospitality, underpinned by the motto "Simply Say Yes".
The Smiling Grape Company, which opened in St Neots in August, prides itself on offering a wine to suit every mood or occasion, rather than expecting customers to be connoisseurs - as a contrast with some supermarkets that increase prices of some wines simply so that they can later be promoted with huge discounts.
The Nutty Tarts Company started four years ago with a cake stand at a school fund-raiser as a result of a conversation between two mums waiting to pick up their children. The company prides itself on including no preservatives or additives in its tradition hand-baked cakes and biscuits. It now operates from a commercial kitchen and has grown its customer-base to 1,500 regulars.
Small Business of the Year, sponsored by the Huntingdonshire branch of the Federation of Small Businesses
Small companies, of which there are several thousand across Huntingdonshire, are responsible for 90 per cent of the district's employment. So there is keen competition to win this award as a springboard to becoming larger and more successful.
This year's finalists are an appliance-testing and certification company from Perry, an Eaton Socon godsend to women with small feet, and a spectacularly successful nail studio in St Ives.
Cambs-PAT (UK) Limited was founded in 2004 to provide legally-required portable appliance health and safety testing, and has increased turnover six-fold in that time - as well as being short-listed for The Hunts Post Business Awards in 2005 and 2006. It now employs seven full-time staff and four part-timers and subcontracts other work to two local companies. The company has also diversified into villa rentals in Florida.
Frustration with traipsing around major shopping centres and failing to find shoes small enough to fit led Sue Martin-Loat to realise she was not the only woman being let down by big retailers. So she formed her online Small Measures business two years ago and now turns over £100,000 a year by specialising in sizes 1-3. Although based in Huntingdonshire, Small Measures already has regular customers around the world, including Sri Lanka and Australia.
The Nail Retreat was set up a year ago after 12 months in the planning by two friends who had originally met at college. The planning paid off, and the business took nearly £80,000 in its first year - more than 70 per cent ahead of the business plan. In addition to the two founders working full time, the company already has one fulltime and another casual employee. However, it is cautious about expansion, preferring to give personal attention to existing clients.
Training and Development Award, sponsored by Huntingdonshire Regional College
Demonstrating significant business improvement through training and development has got three companies through to the final judging.
There could be little greater difference in size between last year's winner, the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel, part of a worldwide chain of luxury hotels, and motor dealer Vindis on the one hand, and Hunts County Squash in Hemingford Grey on the other.
Training and staff development are fundamental to the Marriott group's corporate philosophy, and successive managers at Huntingdon have embraced it enthusiastically. It is a continuous process that begins on the day "associates", as employees are called, are recruited and follows them through what could be a working lifetime. Many of the organisation's senior managers joined as junior associates.
The development process encourages employees to have realistic ambitions to progress through the organisation, encourages them to seek their personal goals and monitors them along the way.
Vindis Audi has a similar commitment, with training and employee development embedded in the corporate culture. The company is planning to take a large number of staff to Germany the better to understand not only the product but the supplier's own company culture.
Vindis also sets high training standards that are rigidly adhered to.
By contrast, HC Squash sees it role as developing others, particularly youngsters and people with learning difficulties, to use the sport as a component of personal development.
It works with local partnerships, clubs and schools, not only to develop players but to train coaches and volunteers to deliver in the community.
The company, run by two elite-level coaches, also provides opportunities in racketball, pilates, circuit training and other fitness-encouraging activities.