International growth has enormous benefits for local and global economies and there’s no doubt that Northern Ireland has many impressive businesses which are operating successfully on the international stage.
They are being reminded that they have just a week left to shine a light on their achievements by entering the 2014 Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards.
Entries should be made at BusinessAchieversAward.com by Friday 26 September.
The scheme celebrates the achievements of local companies across a range of sectors, and is run in association with the Belfast Telegraph, Invest NI, InterTradeIreland and SmallBusinessCan.com.
Businesses can enter to win awards for their achievements across eight categories including Business Start-Up, Small Business and Established SME as well as the International Business title, which will go to a company which can demonstrate an international growth strategy that has achieved outstanding levels of sales, profit and market share improvement.
Judges will shortlist companies for the Ulster provincial stage, and winners will then compete in their respective categories at an all-island awards ceremony in December 2014. One all-island category winner will also be crowned overall Ulster Bank Business Achiever 2014.
Previous winners of the International Business Achiever award at the Ulster stage have included CDE Global, TG Eakin and Andor Technology. All three later went on to take the all-Ireland International Business Achiever title as well as the overall Ulster Bank Business Achiever Award.
This year’s overall winner will receive a comprehensive prize package including a publishing bursary worth around £40,000, business mentoring from Enterprise Ireland and a full-service communications workshop, as well as media exposure.
Ellvena Graham, Managing Director, SME Banking and Head of Ulster Bank Northern Ireland, said:
“We know how hard our local SMEs are working and how busy they are but we believe it’s important to take stock of how far your business has come and to tell Ulster Bank Business Achievers all about it. The awards are free to enter and time spent on your application could be an investment that really pays off. I look forward to being inspired by the dynamic business and entrepreneurship stories that exist here.
“The benefits of entering are numerous. Winning or being a finalist in a provincial, national or overall award has provided excellent brand exposure for previous entrants and an opportunity for them to highlight and celebrate what they provide in terms of products and services.
“Winning an award results in a feel good factor for all staff, increasing motivation and job satisfaction, obviously key to the continued success and expansion of any business.”
Commenting on their previous success in the awards, Elaine Toner, international marketing manager at TG Eakin, says that the win was a big boost for staff morale: “Despite our global reach, we are a very small team and the staff morale was given a real boost by winning the award. It was a very simple, straightforward process; a lot of awards schemes can be time consuming and complicated, but Business Achievers was anything but, and there was always someone at the end of the phone to help us.”
Colin Trainor of CDE Global says of the company’s win in the awards: “We were up against some really stiff competition, so it was great to be recognised alongside such impressive companies”.
Entries for the 2014 awards are open to SMEs across all sectors and businesses can enter in any two of the categories:
Deadline for submissions is Friday 26 September. You can follow all the action on Twitter throughout the 2014 awards using #UBBAA
