Best Entrepreneur

Sponsor: Richmond Council

Richmond Council is delighted to be supporting the Richmond Business Awards this year and to be sponsoring the Best Entrepreneur Award category. With one of the country’s highest rates of self-employment, entrepreneurialism is a defining characteristic of our workforce. Celebrating the success of new and established small businesses is particularly important now in a time of increasing economic uncertainty, a challenging retail environment and ever increasing overhead costs.

This Award also compliments business support programme – Richmond Enterprise Challenge: Step Up; Start Up and Scale Up which is aimed at pre-start-ups, early stage and growing businesses to give them the focused support they need to develop and grow – building a firm foundation for our future local economy.

Richmond Chamber of Commerce
Join Chamber
Pay Entry Fee

Entry Form for Best Entrepreneur

    Your Name

    Your Job Title

    Your Email

    Your Phone Number (mobile and/or landline)

    PLEASE ONLY COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING 4 FIELDS IF YOU ARE NOMINATING SOMEONE ELSE FOR THIS AWARD

    If nominating someone, their name

    If nominating someone, their job title

    If nominating someone, their email address

    If nominating someone, their phone number

    Name of business or organisation

    Please indicate the business sector, type of activity, approximate turnover & no. of employees

    1. Is the business either based or does it trade significantly within The Borough of Richmond upon Thames?

    2. How has the business evolved and grown - has it moved location is it local/international, taken on employees, has the turnover increased, has the distribution/delivery branched out into new territories/industries?

    3. What impact has the business had on its industry sector? Is it beating competitors, or providing strong competition to bigger names?

    4. Describe the business strategy for now/the future and how it delivers for the business. max.500 words

    5. What were the goals when the business started? Has it over-achieved? Has the business vision changed?

    6. Did the business face any financial restrictions or funding/investment barriers?

    7. Were there any legal issues?

    8. Were there any personal issues that had to be overcome - e.g. family commitments, confidence?

    9. Did you/nominee learn new skills for the business, take courses or gain qualifications?

    10. Were there any economic issues that acted as a barrier – unemployment or having to let staff go? Did you/nominee have a previous business that didn't work out?

    11. Did you/nominee have to break industry barriers in making the business a success – e.g. making a name for themselves in a male-dominated industry, or entering a new and untested industry?

    12. Tell the judges about your/nominee's achievements such as awards, qualifications or accreditations?

    13. What personal achievements spurred you/nominee onto create a business - have you climbed a mountain, completed a marathon, invested in other successful businesses or lobbied the local council for change?

    14. Who will collect the Award at the awards ceremony should you/nominee win?

    Please upload your company logo (high res and low res versions please) and any other documents relevant to your entry here (max. 5Mb)

    Entry Guidelines:

    By popular request, as well as entering yourself, you can nominate your boss or someone who has impressed you and to do so, please follow the guidelines below, pay the entry fee and send us your details as well as the nominee’s contact details.

    To enter you need to be a business or organisation in Richmond upon Thames or do significant work in the borough. When completing the entry forms please use metrics for example proportion of turnover, %, numbers in your evidence – this will assist in the judging. All sizes of businesses and organisations are invited to enter and all will be judged according to their size. If you do not have all the answers you could still win – our independent judges will judge you fairly. The number of characters allowed per question indicates the maximum – by no means do you have to use all of these to answer the questions fully. Please attach any additional evidence such as press releases or testimonials or confidential business balance sheets to support your entry.

    Prior to entering the Awards this year, please pay the entry fee using the PAY ENTRY FEE button below. This entitles your business to: enter multiple Richmond Business Awards; 2 tickets to attend The Awards Ball, so you and your colleagues can enjoy the fun event including a drinks reception, fine dining and dancing at the iconic Twickenham Stadium; and last but not least so you can pick up your Award should you win. Before paying the fee, join the Richmond Chamber of Commerce to access the subsidised Awards Entry Fee, the extensive business network, compelling advertising and PR packages, free mentoring services, varied weekly events, facilitation services and more. These Entry Fee seats can be added to a table for 10 should you wish to purchase a table so that we can accommodate tables of 12. Please note that the entry fee is paid only once and entitles your business or organisation to enter multiple Awards.

    If you have any questions about entering any of the categories, the process or anything else please contact us at email@richmondchamberofcommerce.co.uk and the team will be delighted to assist you.