A finalist at last year’s LeicestershireLive Business Awards has described the excitement of hearing they were a winner and the boost the accolade has given to his team.
Groby-based Mini Bikers won the Small Business Growth & Development Award last year. Its runs accredited 'learn to cycle' programmes for children and now has a 10-strong team, covering different parts of the UK.
With nominations now open for the 2022 awards its director Yasin Imir encouraged anyone proud of a business they run in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland to get on board. To nominate or find out more click here. The closing date for entries is August 26.
He said: “As we have grown we thought the time was right to enter the awards – we’d got our name out in the market and things were doing really well.
“The actual awards night was amazing and we brought some of our trainers from as far away as Wales to be on our table. We couldn’t believe it when we heard we had won but we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved and I think we deserved it.
“It has helped us as a business – we went on to win a Queens Jubilee award from the Lord Lieutenant – and I think it has raised our profile.
“Our name is now better known and through the awards we have made new contacts, and we’ve put the awards logo on our e-mail signature. We have definitely benefited from it.
“I think businesses should nominate themselves even if it’s just for the experience. As a small businesses you have to do what you can to grow.”
He said Mini Bikers was looking for more staff and its Balanceability course was now registered to go into schools. It has also branched out into childrens’ bike sales.
Reach Plc – parent company of LeicestershireLive and BusinessLive – has taken the awards back in-house and shaken up the categories to make them as relevant as they can be to the modern business world.
Those categories are:
Large Business of the Year – supported by headline sponsor Freeths
Medium Business of the Year
Small Business of the Year – sponsored by Global Payments
Apprentice of the Year
Professional Services Business of the Year – sponsored by Mattioli Woods
Property and Construction Business of the Year – sponsored by Kings Real Estate
Manufacturing Business of the Year – sponsored by Samworth Brothers
Young Businessperson of the Year (aged 30 and under)
New Business of the Year (running for two years or less)
Entrepreneur of the Year – sponsored by Morningside Pharmaceuticals
Lifetime Achievement Award – sponsored by Pattersons Commercial Law
Business of the Year 2022
Apply to the 2022 awards by clicking here
This year’s nominations will be whittled down by a team of independent judges picked by LeicestershireLive Business Editor Tom Pegden with the winners announced during a black tie awards night on Thursday, October 13, at the King Power Stadium.
Tickets are on sale now through the Business Awards website here.
The judges will also review the winners of each category to select the one they believe has shown the greatest track record in recent months and years – which will be named the overall 2022 Business of the Year.
The overall winner does not have to be a large business – but a business of any size which has shown outstanding commercial success, employee support, innovation and creativity.
For nominations, tickets and sponsorship opportunities click here.
