New Awards Salute Yorkshire’s Enterprise Culture

Enterprise and diversity among businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber has been recognised by five events held for the first time across the region. The success stories for 2010 cover many sectors, including cultural activities, food, media, exports, fashion and beauty, engineering, flooring, furniture, telecommunications and energy consultancy.  

Five individuals and companies were honoured at each of the Yorkshire Enterprise and Diversity Awards 2010 by ATL (Yorkshire) Ltd, a not-for-profit business and enterprise support organisation, at ceremony’s held in five unique venues; University of Hull; Yorkshire County Cricket Club Leeds; University of Huddersfield; Sheffield Hallam University and Aagrah Midpoint Suite Bradford. 

The awards, designed to celebrate business success, entrepreneurship and diversity in business throughout the region, recognised excellence over the past 12 months. The events were attended by more than 850 local business representatives and dignitaries. ATL received over a hundred nominations from individuals or businesses and 25 were award winners and a lifetime achievement award. 

ATL Chief Executive Arshad Javed said: 'In terms of nominations for awards, we had a fantastic response from some really innovative organisations. It underlines my belief that there is a real entrepreneurial spirit alive in the region.' 

Amjad Pervez, Chairman of ATL (Yorkshire) Ltd, said: 'These are awards for real people who are getting up every day and working hard to grow our regional economy - they're not just black tie events.'  

The events were supported by ATL's regional and local partners – the Hull Enterprise Partnership, Sirius, Hull Developing our Communities (DOC), Princes Trust, Hull University Enterprise Centre, University of Huddersfield, Kirklees Council, Sheffield Hallam University, Bradford Kickstart, Sheffield Enterprise Agency, Cricket Mela, Aagrah, Marie Curie Cancer Care & Sharing The Success. All five events were sponsored by Yorkshire Forward, Business Link and UK Trade & Invest. 

The awards winners for each sub-regional event were:  

University of Hull (Humberside & East Riding) 

• Best Young Business of the Year - Vuba Limited, Brough. Sean Scott, MD
• Finalists: First Step Sports Ltd, Hull; Mercury Design & Marketing Ltd, Hessle. 
• Outstanding Female Entrepreneur - Diane Rothwell, Managing Director of Alterego
• Finalists: Lyndsey Ablett - Kiss Costumes, Hull & Kath Hope - Hope2Sleep, Hull.
• International Business of the Year - Optimus Services Ltd, Hull.
• Finalists: Denman Instrumentation Ltd, Hessle; Streamline Media Ltd, Hull.
• Business of the Year - The One Point Group, Hull.
• Finalists: Cobus Communications Group, Hull; Pure Solar Ltd, Cottingham.
• Joint winners - Diverse Business of the Year - The International Heart of Hull and The Hull Branch of the Russian Community.
• Finalist: The Echoes Foundation.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club (Leeds & North Yorkshire)

• Best Young Business of the Year: Delhi-Catessen, Harvinder Ryatt, Director
• Finalists: Green Monkey Media, Made You Look!
• Outstanding Female Entrepreneur: Janan Thomson, Managing Director of Export Connections
• Finalists: Angela Garczynski (Norton Webb Ltd), Dr Mah Hussain-Gambles (Saaf Pure Skincare)
• International Business of the Year: Pd-M International, Richard Hall, MD
• Finalists: Export Connections, Saaf Pure Skincare
• Business of the Year: Norton Webb Ltd, Angela Garczynski, MD
• Finalists: ANR Locums Ltd, Pioneer Communications Ltd
• Diverse Business of the Year: ANR Locums, Rajan Gupta, Director
• Finalist: BEST Ltd, Confucius Language Academy Ltd

University of Huddersfield (Kirklees & Wakefield)

• Best Young Business of the Year: AS Fabrications (UK) Ltd, Mick Fortune, MD
• Finalists: Studio 116, Quickfoot
• Outstanding Female Entrepreneur: Salma Laher, Salma’s Hair & Beauty Academy, Owner / Director
• Finalists: Shabana Begum (Aroosa Beauty UK Ltd), Jacqueline Cooper (Cooper’s Coffee)
• International Business of the Year: Global Components (UK) Ltd, Kamran Aslam / Irfan Aslam, Directors
• Finalists: Global Components (UK) Ltd, Mass Spectrometry Instruments Ltd
• Business of the Year: Tubzee Ltd, Khalid Mahmood / Liaquat Ali, Executive Directors
• Finalists: Advanced Dyeing Solutions, Digital Consortium
• Diverse Business of the Year: Aroosa Beauty UK Ltd, Shabana Begum, Director
• Finalist: Global Immigration Services

Sheffield Hallam University (South Yorkshire)

• Best Young Business of the Year: Business Data Prospects, Jane Snee
• Finalists: Big on Tyres, Business Data Prospects, White Rose Dyslexia Centre Ltd
• Outstanding Female Entrepreneur: Gaynor Carr (The Smart Station)
• Finalists: Jane Snee (Business Data Prospects), Emily Moncuit (Icon Events)
• International Business of the Year: Eaglelink Ltd, Malik Naeem
• Finalists: GA Kelly Fruit Sales Ltd
• Business of the Year: Home Flair Ltd, Hanif Mohammed Khan
• Finalists: Karachi Stores, Barnsley Food Supplies
• Diverse Business of the Year: Sheffield Foods, Ashfaq Ahmed
• Finalist: Disability Jobsite, Golding Diversity

Aagrah Midpoint suite (Bradford & Calderdale)

• Best Young Business of the Year: Panoetic Ltd, Peter McClory
• Finalists: Arakan Creative Ltd, Salts Security Ltd
• Outstanding Female Entrepreneur: Farnaz Khan, E Response Media
• Finalists: Yasmin Darr (Positive Echo), Gwen Balson (Digital Life)
• International Business of the Year: Image Analysis Ltd, Duncan Russell & Lee Tunnicliffe
• Finalists: Cogwork Studios Ltd, Unze by Shalimar Shoes
• Business of the Year: Lahore Café Bar Ltd, Asghar Ali
• Finalists: Saffron Desi Ltd, SS Audio Video Ltd
• Diverse Business of the Year: Mario’s Ltd, Adrian De Luca
• Finalist: Pro-Active Sports, Unique Education
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Mohammed Rafiq, MD of Kozeesleep Beds

ATL is an established provider of enterprise, life long learning, employment and community engagement to diverse individuals, businesses and organisations throughout Yorkshire and Humber. With a reputation for excellence, for over ten years ATL has delivered keynote events; mainstream business support services; learning and coaching interventions.

The core aim of ATL is to increase the participation in enterprise, lifelong learning and community empowerment in parts of the region where it is needed by actively engaging clients from diverse communities, including women, ethnic minorities, the Third (Voluntary) Sector and faith groups, and people living in deprived communities.

Further information, please contact:  Arshad Javed or Insan Farooqi on 0800 587 5874 or 01274 735844.