Our 2016 Awards Ceremony & Dinner took place on Friday the 18th of November, once again at The Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa with over 180 Scottish entrepreneurs in attendance. The Judging Panel was chaired by Rod McMillan Ambassador in our Executive team and he was joined by fellow Ambassadors Martin Mutch, Mike Christopherson and Graham Langley. This year, for the first time, our Awards were open to non-members which resulted in even tougher competition than in previous years. We congratulate all of our winners and runners-up on the success of their businesses to date and look forward to watching your progress in the future. Commenting on this year’s Awards, Rod McMillan said:
“It was a real pleasure and privilege to chair the Judging Panel. The quality of applications was extremely high this year and we were pleased to have so many non WeDO members apply too. Business is a journey as all of our award winners and runners-up know. And we all need to enjoy and celebrate that journey, not just wait for the destination.”
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
WINNER: Brian Williamson of Jumpstart and Brightwork
“I am delighted to be honoured with the WeDO Lifetime Achievement Award. This is especially meaningful to me because it comes from the organisation that is renowned for their support of entrepreneurs. I feel privileged to be classified alongside the esteemed past winners of this Award and the memory of this is something I will cherish forever.”
ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Claymore Global Solutions
WINNERS: Gordon & Hannah Forbes of Optimise – Listening into Action
“We are absolutely thrilled to win the WeDO Entrepreneur of the Year award. Our Listening into Action (LiA)® approach is spreading like wildfire in the NHS – the fifth biggest employer in the world with 1.4 million staff – and we are really excited about taking this to a new level in 2017 with apps-based innovations and expansion into new markets. Being recognised for the work we do to improve patient care through clinician and staff-led change is fantastic and makes us very proud.”
RUNNER-UP: Dag Lee of Nile, Fitness World, Denmark, InTouch Follow-Up Vancouver, GVA CRE, Norway & DBI Network, North America, Asia & Europe
YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Reachin Media
WINNER: Barry Park of OEM Group
“Words cannot describe how proud I feel right now. It is an honour to be acknowledged as Young Entrepreneur of 2016 by the WeDO Scotland Entrepreneur Awards judging panel – and to be accepting a second entrepreneurial title in less than six months.
It’s been an incredible journey so far, especially as the oil and gas sector has been going through an extremely challenging time. To enhance our offering, we streamlined our business units, OEM Engine Services, OEM Fuel Services and OEM Diesel Pty Ltd, and added OEM Middle East to form OEM Group.
Not long after this we invested in a larger workshop facility in Scotland, won several important contracts including a two-year award worth up to £1million with international energy services company Go Marine.
I am truly priviliged to work with an incredibly talented and hard working group of individuals at OEM Group, and it’s thanks to their dedication and constant efforts that also allow the company to shine at times like this.”
RUNNER-UP: Ryan McCabe of Odro
HIGH GROWTH COMPANY OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Everycare Edinburgh
WINNER: Neil Clark of Integrated Human Factors
“To win the prestigious award of High Growth Company of the Year is an incredible honour and privilege. Trying to grow a business can be a thankless task so it’s a truly wonderful feeling to be recognised for the hard work and success achieved by the IHF Team outwith simply winning new business. My sincere thanks to Belinda, the WeDO Team and the judges for recognising IHF and here’s to an exciting and prosperous 2017.”
RUNNER-UP: Jonathan Gilbert of the Edinburgh Watch Company
NEW START BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Klozers
WINNER: Gavin Bell of Blue Cliff Media
“It’s an absolute honour to have won New Start Business of the Year. I launched Blue Cliff Media 18 months ago now and to have our achievements formally recognised is amazing. It gives me the confidence that what we’re doing is actually working and sets us in good stead going into 2017!”
RUNNER-UP: Sara Roberts of Healthy Nibbles
We would like to thank all of our Award sponsors above and our Awards Dinner sponsors:
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