2022 North East Entrepreneurial Awards

Welcome to the 2022 North East Entrepreneurial Awards

We’re delighted to welcome you to the 2022 North East Entrepreneurial Awards! In particular, we would like to welcome all of the business owners and their families to the ceremony, which is held to honour entrepreneurs’ achievements and the outstanding contribution they make to our region’s prosperity.

Since 2004, we have toasted some of the region’s biggest and best business successes and tonight will be no different, sharing inspirational stories of entrepreneurial achievement with a whole lot of fun. Nominations this year have been incredible and we think you’ll be astounded by the impact each of our finalists has had on their businesses and teams, so please sit back, enjoy the evening and celebrations!

Tonight's programme

Drinks Reception

Welcome from Our Host

Alfie Joey

Emerging Talent Award

Supported by Brewin Dolphin

Mentor of the Year Award

Supported by Malhotra Group

Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Supported by Ward Hadaway

Lifetime Achievement Award

Supported by ION Starter

Roasted Vegetable Tart with a Parmesan Crust and Rocket and Spinach Oil (v)

Main

Braised Confit of Beef with Onion Mash, Fine Beans and Bourguignon Sauce

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Loaf, Herby Diced Potatoes, Tenderstem Broccoli and Onion Gravy (v)

Scale-up Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Supported by British Business Bank

Dessert Biscoff and Coconut Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis (v)

Drinks Reception

Bar Closes at 1am

Thank you!

We’d like to say a huge thank you to each of our partners and this evening’s sponsors. Without their commitment and support for North East entrepreneurship, we wouldn’t be able to do any of the things we do— including host this evening!

Emerging Talent Award

Brewin Dolphin are one of the UK’s leading providers of personalised investment management and financial planning services. For nearly 120 years, they have been helping business owners in the North East with important issues such as pension planning, key man insurance, investments and inheritance tax planning, to name but a few. In addition to their core service of wealth management. They have recently launched two services – BPS and Wealth Pilot – that are designed to help people with their finances earlier in life.

Mentor of the Year Award

Since 1991, Malhotra Group

PLC, part of the Malhotra Family Holdings, has grown and diversified from a small family business into a large organisation employing over 1,100 people. Committed to a continual and sustainable growth plan, they are firmly based in the North East and successfully own and operate a specialised group of care home facilities, a national property investment portfolio and a leisure arm, incorporating hotels, award winning restaurants and bars.

@MalhotraGroup malhotragroup.co.uk

Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Ward Hadaway provide specialist, commercially focused legal advice to entrepreneurs, companies and organisations across a wide range of sectors to help them meet their goals and fulfil their ambitions. As one of the UK’s Top 100 law firms, they can offer the strength in depth you need to help your business grow. To find out what they can do for you head to wardhadaway.com

Scale-up Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Helping small businesses find a way. The British Business Bank are the UK’s economic development bank and here to help your business find a way, with free financial tools and expert information. They’re experts in small business finance and work with a broad range of partners to help businesses like yours, whether you’re a start-up, an established business or you’re looking to grow.

Lifetime Achievement Award

ION are the CFOs’ choice for financial infrastructure and transformation services. Their team of specialists work with mid-market and private equity-backed businesses to implement powerful cloud financial technologies, providing the vertical integration of accounting, billing, payments and revenue. This allows scalability of financial operations. ION partners with world-class technology providers such as Sage, Stripe, FinancialForce, Zendesk and Chargebee. With over 150 business and financial transformation projects, ION are the CFO′s trusted partner.

@ionplatform ionhq.co.uk

About tonight’s charity

This year, to mark the Forum's 20th anniversary, we set ourselves a challenge: to raise £20,000 for local charities!

Although we smashed our target during our fundraising events earlier this year, with so many people coming together tonight, we felt that we couldn’t miss the opportunity to do more good in the North East. On your table this evening, you will find a charity envelope for The Prince’s Trust Women Supporting Women campaign (one of our chosen charities for 2022) or, if you’d prefer, you can donate using the QR code below.

The mission of Women Supporting Women is simple: to nurture, empower and inspire young women to build a better future for themselves.

Both the Prince’s Trust’s research and their many interactions with young women show that this group particularly needs support, with young women suffering some challenges more acutely than young men.

For those young women who were already vulnerable before the pandemic – facing issues such as long-term unemployment, mental health problems, challenges at home or at school, or even homelessness – it can seem as though there is no way out.

It’s our hope that throughout this evening we raise as much as we can for The Prince’s Trust Women Supporting Women campaign and it would be fantastic if you could make a donation to help this wonderful initiative. Women Supporting Women was established at The Prince’s Trust in 2018 to help young women who face disadvantage and adversity to transform their lives. The collective is committed to raising funds so that more young women can build their confidence and receive support to get into jobs, self-employment, education or training.

By supporting Women Supporting Women and their #ChangeaGirlsLife campaign, you will be helping to ensure that young women’s futures are not predetermined by circumstance. If you would like to find out more about Women Supporting Women and how you can invest in The Trust’s work, please visit www.princes-trust.org.uk or contact Gemma Skaife-Greaves on gemma.skaife-greaves@princes-trust.org.uk

Thank you for your support

The Prince’s Trust is a charity which relies on donations to perform the amazing work they do. If you would like to know more about their Women Supporting Women initiative, please visit www.princes-trust.org.uk or contact Gemma Skaife-Greaves on gemma.skaife-greaves@princes-trust.org.uk

During tonight’s celebration, we are hosting an auction to raise further funds for this incredible organisation. Bids can be made at our auction table, available within the foyer, and prizes on offer include:

• The Lakes Distillery Single Malt Whiskey: The Private Reserve (Bottle 46 of 100) donated by Nigel Mills CBE, The Lakes Distillery

• Ad Gefrin Private Distillery Tour, Lunch and Visitor Experience for Four donated by Eileen Ferguson, Ad Gefrin

• Grey Street Hotel Dinner, Bed and Breakfast for Two with Spa Treatments at City Retreat donated by Meenu and Atul Malhotra, The Malhotra Group

• Full Circle Brew Co. Brewer for a Day Experience and Tour with a Month’s Supply of Beer donated by Ben Cleary, Full Circle Brew Co.

• 21 Newcastle Table for Four donated by Terry Laybourne, 21 Hospitality

• Rockliffe Hall Overnight Stay for Two with Dinner in The Orangery donated by Warwick Brindle, Rockliffe Hall

• Aston Martin Hire for the Weekend donated by Aston Martin Newcastle

• Middleton Lodge Overnight Stay for Two with Dinner at The Coach House donated by James Allison, Middleton Lodge

On your table you will find a charity envelope. Each person who donates tonight will be entered into a raffle and have the chance to win one of our spot prizes all kindly donated by amazing local businesses:

• Ad Gefrin Exclusive Bottle of Tacnbora Blended Whiskey (Currently Unavailable to Purchase)

• WBCo. £200 Clinic Voucher

• The Black Olive £50 Voucher

• Workwear Express £50 Voucher

• Signed Copy of Sara Davies’ Book ‘We Can All Make It’

• Pink Boutique £100 Voucher

• Newcastle Eagles Hospitality for Two

• Hardwick Hall Hotel Afternoon Tea for Four

• Spicers of Hythe Hamper

• Leila Lily’s Afternoon Tea for Two

• The Great North Hotel Overnight Stay with Breakfast for Two

• 21 Newcastle Voucher

• Jesmond Dene House Afternoon Tea for Two

• Full Circle Brew Co. Beer Hamper

• Durham County Cricket Signed Bat

• Durham Distillery Hamper

• Ringtons Tea and Biscuit Hamper

• Fenwicks Own Label Hamper

Emerging Talent

Supported by

Our Emerging Talent finalists are all individuals who have built a business of outstanding potential and have been trading for six years or less.

Kimberley Cattin

WBCo

Kimberley is the CEO and co-founder of Durham-based cosmetics company WBCo, best known for their hero product, the original Soap Brows. Kim’s stellar business acumen, alongside her experience as a professional makeup artist, has allowed her and her mum Donna to grow an outstanding company that employs 27 local staff members, ships products around the world, is stocked in prestigious stores like Liberty London, Harrods and Urban Outfitters, and is a firm celebrity favourite. Kim’s overarching goal for the company is to create and nurture a culture that allows employees to be well physically, emotionally and mentally, to be brave enough to try new things and go after their professional and personal goals, and to be creative, original and individual in all aspects of their lives.

@kimberleyccattin

@westbarnco

Chloë Clover Wander Films

Chloë Clover is the co-founder/ director of Wander Films, an award-winning video production and content marketing company known for creating next-level visual content for brands to #beatthescroll™. Clover made the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 list and led Wander from two girls with a broken GoPro to a team of 17 working with brands all over the world. Clover, who dropped out of school, is an enterprise advisor at Northern School of Art and is on the board of Power of Women to encourage young people to follow their dreams.

@WanderClover

@WANDER_FILMS_UK

Richard Shell The Doxford Group

Richard is the owner and director of The Doxford Group, an award-winning family business delivering the most spectacular weddings and events at Charlton Hall and Doxford Barns. After quitting his career in banking, Richard returned to the rural idyll where he was born (Doxford Farm, Northumberland) to launch his first business at the age of only 24. 2018 saw Richard launch his second wedding venue, Charlton Hall, an 18th century stately home neighbouring the farm he grew up on - and a building which he had always envisioned owning as his own wedding and events venue.

Scale-up Entrepreneur of the Year

Supported by

Our Scale-up Entrepreneur of the Year finalists are individuals who are leading a scaling company achieving 20%+ annualised growth in either turnover, profit or employee numbers for any (but ideally all) of the past three years.

James Hill Polar NE

James is the Managing Director of Polar NE, a company he has grown by an impressive 60% in the last year alone. With a focus on people, James’s vision for Polar NE is to improve the lives of everyone in the Polar family, creating an environment where everyone loves getting up on a Monday morning and where work has meaning. He is passionate about the products and services, and the lifesaving impact Polar products bring. His vision for the future is for Polar to reach as far as possible, improving people’s lives across the globe, while creating opportunities in the North East.

@Polar_NE

Dale Smith

The SDDE Smith Group

Dale is a property entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in investment, development and holiday home management. He has grown what is now The SDDE Smith Group from one holiday home in March 2017 to a group of six customer facing brands including legal services, construction, interior design and ongoing property management, with over two hundred and fifty employees and a forecasted group turnover of over £25m for 2022. Dale is passionate about the North East and has developed a true purpose for The SDDE Smith Group which is to push boundaries to create better places to live, work and stay.

Rob Mathieson

ION

With a background in internet technologies, Rob has been building technology solutions for nearly 20 years and founded ION in 2016 with the aim of providing Salesforce CRM services to local businesses. As the company evolved it became clear there was a growing need to provide mid-market CFO’s with financial technology (fintech), infrastructure and transformation services. Rob has directed the growth of the business and helped transition through a number of pivots, with the business now one of the UK’s leading fintech businesses partnering with some of the leading companies in the world. While Newcastle-based, ION works with companies across the UK, North America and the Middle-East.

@ionhq

Tim Ward

OPPORTUNI

Tim has spent over 15 years in the procurement, bids and tendering industry, winning more than £20 billion worth of contracts, often for the underdog. A forward thinker and visionary on a global mission to transform the procurement ecosystem, Tim and his co-founder Bill are building tech-based products at scale to level the procurement playing field, making opportunities accessible and winnable for any aspirational company. OPPORTUNI has made multi-million-pound investments in shaping the industry for future generations with a mission to redirect £225 billion worth of contracts per year to small and medium sized businesses.

@opportunitender

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Entrepreneur of the Year

Supported by

Steven Rawlingson

Samuel Knight International

Founder and Group CEO of Samuel Knight International, Steven is a seasoned executive with high growth (over 50% year over year), global P&L, M&A, and extensive international management experience. Steven has a strong track record of successful leadership in global corporations across STEM solutions, project manpower and executive search sectors and holds over 20 years of extensive industry experience in helping create, build and fund fast-growing specialist international project solution companies within the renewables sector.

@SamuelKnightLtd

Mike O’Brien Opencast

Ten years ago this year Mike co-founded Opencast on the back of his vision for a new kind of tech consultancy – a modern, forward-thinking and independent alternative to the traditional corporate model. Today, the business has over 300 permanent staff and operates a hybrid working model from four bases UK wide. Opencast works with clients across UK government and global enterprise to design and build user-centred digital and technology solutions with purpose. The business works hard to maintain the peoplefocused culture in keeping with Mike’s founding vision. Mike is also a founding member of Dynamo North East and an early-stage investor in Atom Bank.

@teamopencast

Charlie Hoult

Charlie has started several businesses since he set up a foraged field mushroom stall selling to visitors on Holy Island in the school holidays. Across his companies, he currently employs around 500 people in Opencast, Hoults Yard Hubs and Futureheads Recruitment. He also started Dynamo North East, the corporate network that champions the region’s tech economy. These are all collaborative ventures, so three cheers to partners in action!

His personal LinkedIn page boasts more readers than The Journal.

@charliehoult

Our Entrepreneur of the Year finalists are all individuals who have shown incredible resilience and strength to lead their business to outstanding success.

Announced this evening

Mentor of the Year Lifetime Achievement

Selected for their outstanding contribution over the last twelve months to altruistically supporting the growth of fellow entrepreneurs’ businesses, the winner has been selected by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum board.

Also carefully chosen by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum board from nominations, the recipient of our Lifetime Achievement award has been chosen for their huge commitment to business over a significant period of time and their major impact to the regional economy and community.

in front of

Hall of Fame

Each year we celebrate the success of the region's greatest business leaders. Take a look at who's already made it into our North East Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame.

Emerging Talent

Parker

Lynch

Rob Mathieson

Brett Jacobson

Sara Davies

Chris Peacock

Greg Phillips

Lisa Hart Shepherd

Matthew James

Tarek Nseir

Scale-up Entrepreneur of the Year

Jeff Winn, Winn’s

Bill Scott, Wilton

Phil Cronin,

Anne Ganley, Thompson Building Centres

Graeme Lowdon,

Tony Trapp,

Engineering

Ian Baggett, Adderstone

Mike Browne,

Steven Bell, Bells Stores

John Hays, Hays Travel

Mentor of the Year

Entrepreneur of the Year

Lee Hutchinson

Glen Hall

Tony Cleary

Lianne Walker

David Harrison

John Waterworth

Geoff Thompson

Ian Watson

Lifetime Achievement