Somerset celebrates its vibrant business community as the winners of the Somerset Business Awards 2010 are announced
The winners of this year’s prestigious Somerset Business Awards were announced
on Friday 22nd October at the annual Somerset Business Awards Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony. The occasion was a great opportunity to celebrate the varied and vibrant businesses of Somerset, with winners flaunting impressive combined credentials that place Somerset in an enviable position to weather the economic storm and withstand recently announced government cuts.
Almost 300 people from the county’s top businesses – from sole traders to major corporate firms – attended the sell-out event at the new Somerset County Cricket Club conference and banqueting facilities to find out who had won this year’s highly-coveted awards. Organisers commented that the standard of the entries this year has been exceptional, whilst the number of entries was up over 50%, proving that the popularity and prestige of the Somerset Business Awards continues to increase year on year.
David Griffin, Managing Partner of Albert Goodman, the main event sponsor, commented, “The Somerset Business Awards have become the most recognisable and important endorsement of corporate and individual achievement in Somerset. Through our involvement as main sponsor of this year’s awards, it is uplifting to view first-hand the strength of businesses and individual talent within our county, particularly at a time when we are experiencing the worst economic conditions for several decades.”
The judges were so impressed with the level of achievement from young people at this year’s Somerset Business Awards that they awarded a special prize for Young Entrepreneur of the Year to Lympsham based Turnkey IT Solutions, which also came second in the New Business of the Year Award. Established by Michael Turner in January 2009 at the tender age of 17, Turnkey IT Solutions provides a complete outsourced managed IT solution for businesses and has recently developed ‘Staff Guardian’ – an innovative application that allows managers to ensure their staff’s safety and manage overheads easily. The young entrepreneur is already an impressive businessman and is a real asset for Somerset, undoubtedly destined to go on to bigger and better things.
Michael commented, “Winning a Somerset Business Award is really great for Turnkey IT Solutions. It’s great recognition – it shows that we’re doing the right thing and our customers are obviously really proud of us. We will continue to grow and hope to gain more customers in Somerset and nationwide. We’ve launched StaffGuardian.com, which is a great staff safety solution, and we hope that by winning this award it will help us promote that.”
