Photograph by Liz Henson Photography

EIGHTEEN trophies will be up for grabs in the fourth Hyndburn Business Awards with several new categories to be contested. The awards have been an incredible success since they were launched in 2016 when more than 200 people packed Accrington Town Hall’s ballroom for the ceremony.

Rob Carder, from organisers Enterprising People, said: “In the first year we were delighted to receive more than 200 nominations for 120 different local businesses; last year that soared to 639 nominations for more than 200 businesses. That shows how valued the local businesses of Hyndburn are and I am sure this year will attract even more entries.”

Five new sponsors have come forward and two new awards will be presented for the first time – Health & Beauty and Enterprising Woman.

After being named as a finalist in the B2B category last year, Nicola Dugdale, managing director of Specialist Training & Consultancy Ltd in Altham was delighted when the opportunity came up to sponsor an award. She said: “We have been working hard to raise our profile. We had seen how successful the event has become and were pleased to be named as a finalist in the B2B category. A lot of our customers are large businesses, including last year’s Beacon winner Emerson and Renwick Ltd, and this is our chance to give a little bit back to our customers in the local area. The opportunity to sponsor the large business category means that we will get the chance to read how these businesses have become so successful and have grown and we will be inspired by their good practice.”

Specialist Training & Consultancy Ltd will be 20 years old in September and was initially based at The Globe Centre, moving to premises on Altham Industrial Estate in 2003. Nicola explained: “We are a small business and have eight employees and provide regulation based training, including transport, warehousing and dangerous goods. We have classroom based training on site also can also train in the workplace.”

Another new sponsor is The Balti House in Rishton, which won both the Customer Friendly and the Food Business trophies. This year the company is sponsoring the Not for Profit Award which was won last year by Advocacy Focus. Simple Accounting NW Ltd is also a new sponsor for the popular MicroBusiness category won last year by Pure Perfection (Accrington) Ltd.

Nominations will open from March 12 to April 16 and the presentation ceremony will be on Tuesday June 18.

Story by Catherine Smyth Media