EF News
The finalists in this year’s Entrepreneurial Awards demonstrate that the North East is a region which is buzzing with business activity and innovation.
The Entrepreneurial Awards by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum have been running for nearly twenty years, honouring and celebrating the region’s outstanding entrepreneurial talent and this year will include five categories; Emerging Talent, Scale-up Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur of the Year, Mentor of the Year and Lifetime Achievement.
The Emerging Talent category is one to watch with previous winners going on to build highly successful businesses. The hall of fame for this award includes Sara Davies MBE who won in 2011, Alice Hall (2015) and Rez Gachcar (2020).
Now making regular appearances on our TV screens, Sara Davies won this award after spotting a gap in the market and setting up Crafter’s Companion whilst at university. The business now employs over 200 people and exports craft supplies to customers across the world. Alice Hall started Pink Boutique in 2012, taking the business from selling some dresses on eBay to £25m turnover at its peak. She has since gone on to set up -further businesses, including Rowen Homes which this year opened a flagship store in the Metro Centre. And Rez Gachcar, a true innovator who created Mud Daddy, an eco-friendly, mobile cleaning device for washing pets. Mud Daddy is now a multi-million-pound company, firmly established in the UK pet market.
This year’s Emerging Talent finalists, which is awarded to an entrepreneur who is building a business of outstanding potential and trading for six years or less, all stood out as making a real impact in the region.
Daniel Wade, founder of Wade Construction Management Consultants, a Teesside-based construction and project management company specialising in the Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences sector, has seen the business grow by an impressive 410% since its inception in 2018.
Gary Giles, also in the construction industry with his company OGEL, uses recycled waste plastic to build garden rooms and other specialist buildings, a technology which attracted several offers of investment when he featured on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den in 2021.
Sarah Grant is the founder of My Healthcare Recruit, an international healthcare recruitment agency providing services to NHS Trusts, large national Private Healthcare chains and Nursing Homes. On a mission to deliver outstanding service, they have expanded their services to include accommodation sourcing and immigration advice.
The fourth finalist in the Emerging Talent category is Neil Donachie, co-founder of Mother Mercy, a group of premium cocktail bars in the centre of Newcastle and Gateshead. Despite opening their first venue four months before the start of the pandemic, under Neil’s leadership the business has delivered impressive growth with the introduction of two additional sites, as well as two further sites due to open later this year.
Elaine Stroud, CEO, Entrepreneurs’ Forum said “The Entrepreneurial Awards are a fantastic showcase for all of the entrepreneurial talent we have in the region. It’s important that we shine a light on this, not just in the North East, but also to show the rest of the country the energy and diversity of businesses that we have here. Our past winners demonstrate that highly successful businesses are born here and go on to do great things. We’re excited to see the winners in all categories for 2023.”
The winner of the Emerging Talent award and the winners in the other categories will be announced at the Entrepreneurial Awards, sponsored by Week 2 Week Serviced Apartments, at the Hilton Hotel Newcastle Gateshead on 29th September.
