The British Small Business Awards 2017, organised by SmallBusiness.co.uk and GrowthBusiness.co.uk, sponsored by Travelers, Salesforce and Dun & Bradstreet and held on November 1 at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London, is the leading awards ceremony in the SME space, rewarding the brightest stars of the UK small business scene, together with the vendors and advisers that help them start, run, grow and succeed.

We are pleased to make our third shortlist announcement: the Exporter of the Year award.

Our Exporter of the Year will be an business of less than 50 total staff that has demonstrated an ability to succeed in international markets, with judges considering export sales growth/consistency and a notable aptitude for adapting a product or service to new markets.

We received a high number of entrants in this category, in sectors ranging from hairdressers to jewellery shops to dance studios; a cross section of the talent and promise this country’s sole traders offer. After careful consideration and a close scrutiny of how each candidate matched up to the criteria, the Sole Trader of the Year finalists are revealed as:

Achilleos Energy Assessors
Adnil Creations
Athletes in Schools
Dust & Dance
Improve Your Accent
Ma Baker
TH Electrical
Think Tenders

The Sole Trader of the Year category represents Britain’s most common type of business. It is hard to establish the exact number of sole traders as there is no central register for them, but the simplicity of the procedure will be a contributing factor to the popularity of setting up as one: the only requirement for being a sole trader business is that you tell HMRC you are self-employed.

The candidates in this category all impressed in a variety of ways, from huge short-term revenue growth to uniqueness of proposition. Narrowing the list down to eight was hard enough, but it will be even tougher for the judges to select a winner from these candidates: the business heroes that operate at the coal face of the UK economy.

The British Small Business Awards, taking place on November 1 at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London, is the leading celebration of the UK’s small business sector, recognising the nation’s best sole traders, micro businesses and small companies – as well as the services providers and advisers that support them. For more information, please visit the British Small Business Awards website here.

The British Small Business Awards event is sponsored by:

The British Small Business Awards event is supported by: