November was a great month for business, both in Medway and nationally, as we have celebrated this year’s most successful enterprises and entrepreneurs.
I have had the pleasure of attending the Medway Business Awards and to speak at the National Business Awards. These are fantastic celebrations which recognise and reward those businesses at the forefront of driving our local and national economies.
This year we held the 34th Medway Business Awards which have celebrated the achievements of many brilliant enterprises and their hard-working staff.
Medway has some great businesses and lots of talent and this event is all about highlighting these worthy success stories and I was pleased to personally congratulate our winners. It’s also a great opportunity to involve those staff in the process who help make our businesses tick and improve and I am pleased we were able recognise what makes them stand out from their competitors.
This year’s national awards was attended by over 1,200 business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians and journalists in celebration of the ‘best of British ambition’, and included 17 winners across a number of categories. A brand-new category for 2018 – Outstanding Contribution– was awarded to Dame Helena Morrissey, founder of the 30% Club, which launched in the UK in 2010 to support and encourage corporates to have a gender balance on their boards of at least 30% women.
I’m proud to see the wealth of talent, creativity and innovation across the UK being recognised in this way. We are backing business to continue expanding and creating good jobs to such an extent that we are seeing 1,000 new businesses starting up every day.
I would like nothing better than for Medway to be the South East’s shining beacon when it comes to business opportunities and growth and every day I see we are striving to achieve this.
