Entries are now being taken for The Startups Awards 2010, which acknowledges the best fledgling businesses the UK has to offer.
Despite cuts across the board, overall, UK business is seeing a positive change thanks to the new Government. Tax breaks, including extended relief on the increase in Capital Gains Tax and National Insurance have been introduced and considerable interest in UK SMEs expressed, with a ‘hands-on’ approach to understanding this integral part of our economy.
Business Enterprise Minister, Mark Prisk, has started a six-month period of ‘work experience’ spending a day with five small businesses throughout the UK to gain an insight into the challenges they face.
In celebration of the importance of SMEs, Entries are now being accepted for The Startups Awards 2010, organised by startups.co.uk, which reward exciting new companies across the country, complimenting the Governments programme of support.
Founder of startups.co.uk, David Lester says: “Each year we unearth a whole set of innovative, disruptive new businesses and entrepreneurs that continue to make people sit up and pay attention to the start-up market.
“We were thrilled with the quality of entries we received in 2009. I'm confident we'll have another fantastic pick of companies to choose from in 2010 because we've seen the impressive scale of UK talent out there today.”
Previous 2009 winners include: Wonga, Go Sustainable, Three Sixty Entertainment and Truecall.
The awards contain 16 categories, including:
Green Business of the Year
Women in Business Award
Product of the Year
Best Use of Technology
Business Plan of the Year
This year, there are five new categories:
Mobile Business of the Year
Franchisee of the Year
Angle/VC Backed Business of the Year
Craft Business of the Year
Winners of each category will then compete to be named the Startups Business of the Year.
To be eligible to enter, the business must have been trading for less than three years and be privately owned. The closing date for entries is 03 September 2010 and finalists will be announced early November.
