Trading aces get ready to step up for top honours

Published on Thursday 14 April 2005 14:08

TOMORROW, nine companies from across the Lothians will be able to pride themselves in the knowledge that they are the best in their field in this region of Scotland.

The winners of the nine categories will be revealed as the eighth annual Evening News Business Excellence Awards reaches its climax at the gala ceremony at Our Dynamic Earth, one of the city’s flagship venues.

A welter of entries from aspiring companies and organisations - both big and small - poured in. They have been scrutinised and followed up over recent weeks by our panel of judges - all vastly experienced business people.

Feedback from the judging panel points to some exceptional levels of business excellence, with the winners being the organisations that made a strong and lasting impression on the four judges. Edinburgh and the Lothian region as a whole has long been fertile ground for go-ahead companies and entrepreneurs that have seized and built on the opportunities its strong micro-economy offers.

With its international recognition and growing profile as a business and financial centre, Edinburgh presents firms with a solid platform to turn the seeds of a local business into a globally-recognised brand, such as Royal Bank of Scotland - now the world’s seventh-biggest bank.

The Evening News Business Excellence Awards have become an established event in the local business calendar and are a benchmark of quality performance.

Over the years, the annual contest has showcased some of the Lothians’ most dynamic small enterprises, such as The Witchery, Channings Hotel, and Montpeliers (Edinburgh). And it has also recognised the contribution of bigger businesses that employ thousands of people across the region - defence giant BAE Systems and HBoS banking offshoot Intelligent Finance being two of the bigger components of the Lothian business scene that have collected some of our previous gongs.

Evening News editor John McLellan says recognition of the innovation and enterprise of any organisation is an important landmark in its development, acting as a key signpost of progress and ambition, raising the profile of the companies involved and opening gateways to future investment from financial backers.

"Over the years some brilliant organisations have earned well-deserved recognition for their contribution not just to the local business scene but to the life of the region in general," Mr McLellan adds. The main partner for the awards event this year is development agency Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh & Lothian, whose chief executive Jim McFarlane helped judge the entrants and whose vision helped create landmark developments in the Capital including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and the Exchange financial district.

Further backing for the awards has come from software billionaire Bill Gates’ Microsoft group, which jumped at the chance to become the 2005 event’s main sponsor.

It is the view of Microsoft’s regional director for Scotland, Raymond O’Hare, that looking to win an award in events such as Evening News Business Excellence Awards was something that "really sets a company apart" from its peers.

Other organisations putting their weight behind the awards are training body Learndirect Scotland for Business and the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, now led by chief executive Ron Hewitt.

The nine award categories are:

• Best Performing Business (25 employees and under)

• Best Performing Business (26-250 employees)

• Best Performing Business (more than 251 employees)

• Innovation and Creativity

• E-Business

• Most Entrepreneurial Young Company

• Business in the Community

• International Business

• Excellence in Skills and Learning

Each of the category winners will go forward to the national finals of the Scottish Enterprise National Business Awards competition, to be held in Glasgow in June.

Among the companies that made it on to the shortlist were some who showed enough of the above characteristics to be nominated in more than one category.

Nominated in three categories - Excellence in Skills & Learning, Business in the Community and Innovation and Creativity - is software firm The Outcomes Partnership, whose Employment Pathway software package is designed to allow a number of agencies to tap in to a common database to assist the placement of refugees and asylum seekers into work.

Kevin Morrison, managing director of The Outcomes Partnership, says his firm found a simple way to overcome a convoluted task in developing the product.

Another organisation nominated in two sections - Business in the Community and E-Business - is charitable group Football Aid, which allows football fans to play at the same grounds as their heroes to help raise funds for a number of voluntary organisations.

Included in the nominations for the Best Performing Business (26-250 employees) is the Prestonfield House Hotel, which is owned by James Thomson, whose award-winning Witchery restaurant was a previous category winner.

MR THOMSON says that winning his previous award was "a great morale boost for the company".

Over the past year, the Evening News’ business section has reported on a raft of entrepreneurial local companies, as well as the bigger firms whose continuing successes keep Edinburgh and the Lothians in the corporate spotlight.

And our revamped section - unveiled today - will continue to focus on all the key business developments and stories that happen in the local business community.

John Anderson, the chairman of the judging panel and chief executive of the Entrepreneurial Exchange, says his judging panel were on the lookout for attributes such as leadership, objectives and strategy, performance improvement, employee skill levels, financial management, customer satisfaction and supplier relationships.

Mr Anderson says the standard of entry was "exceptionally high".

"Regardless of who wins, these companies should be looked upon as good examples of business excellence to encourage other businesses to strive for greater things.

"They are also organisations that the Lothians can take pride in. Hopefully these awards will get others thinking: ‘If these businesses can do it, why can’t I?’"

FIRM FAVOURITES . . ALL THE COMPANIES NOMINATED FOR AWARDS

BEST PERFORMING BUSINESS (25 employees and under)

• Big Mouth Media - search engine optimisation and e-marketing agency

• Eastern - digital imaging company

• Alistir Wood Tait - jeweller and antique dealer

BEST PERFORMING BUSINESS (26-250 employees)

• Mitie - building maintenance and improvement company

• dns - IT security services

• Prestonfield House Hotel

BEST PERFORMING BUSINESS (more than 251 employees)

• Sykes Global services - customer care consultancy firm

• Search Consultancy - recruitment specialists

• Bausch & Lomb - eyecare group

BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY

• The Outcomes Partnership - software designer

• Eastern - digital imaging

• Football Aid - charitable organisation

E-BUSINESS

• Beetroot Blue - catering and hospitality events firm

• The Door Centre - door supplier

• Football Aid

EXCELLENCE IN SKILLS & LEARNING

• Sharkey - interior designers

• The Outcomes Partnership

• Staffinders - recruitment firm

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

• The Outcomes Partnership

• dns

• SK Chase - online gift vouchers

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

• Jump Marketing - marketing

• Sykes Global Services

MOST ENTREPRENEURIAL YOUNG COMPANY

• McEwan Fraser - property investment consultants

• Heritage Portfolio

• Incovo- communications