The Small Business of the Year Award
Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, creating wealth, employment, social impact and opportunity.
In 2025, 5.6m small businesses with up to 50 staff employed 13m people and generated £1.88 trillion in revenues (gov.uk).
This Award celebrates the overall contribution of Small Businesses and recognises innovative and impactful firms with inspirational leaders that have built high performing teams, delivered for loyal customers, and achieved commercial success.
Open to any organisation with up to 50 employees, this award will be judged on:
• Significant growth that has exceeded key targets
• Innovative product and service
• Customer and employee engagement
• Effective leadership, vision & ambition
• Ethical approach to business
• Plan for sustained financial growth
• Finance on track with business strategy
SCORING
In this category judges will compare the extent to which each candidate has demonstrated excellence in the following areas:
Employee & Customer Engagement 25%
- How have you attracted, retained, motivated and optimised your team to help you win or retain clients?
- What talent strategies, workforce models or initiatives have improved employee engagement, increased productivity and enabled you to achieve your growth objectives?
- Provide case study examples and top line data to demonstrate how you have increased your customer base or market penetration over the last 18 months.
Leadership & Innovation 25%
- Innovation is the core of any new business with big growth potential. Demonstrate evidence of innovation implemented in any area of the business and how it has contributed to your organisation’s success.
- How have you used pioneering technology, processes or platforms in an innovative way?
- Great companies are founded and run by great people. How has your leadership approach or management structure driven great employee performance and customer service to drive success over the last year?
Financial Performance & Growth 30%
- Explain the key growth metrics of your business plan, including financial targets, KPIs, timescales and overall ambitions plus examples of milestones and barriers/challenges that have been overcome. Growth metrics can include adoption, lead generation, client base, NPS scores, etc.
- How has your company performed against your business plan and how do you benchmark against your peers?
- What are your plans to sustain this growth or improve profitability in the future?
Purpose Beyond Profit 20%
- How does your guiding mission, values or purpose align with growth objectives?
- What is your company doing to improve environmental, social or governance impact and how are these initiatives aligned with commercial success?
- How does your approach to diversity, equity and inclusion align purpose with profit and how has this differentiated your business or made you more competitive?
