UK's top 10 small business advisers named

The UK's top small business advisers were named last night/Monday March 12 for their outstanding contribution to business growth.

The awards were part of the Top 50 Advisers Competition hosted by small business support group Enterprise Nation at the city headquarters of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales (ICAEW).

The awards, which are sponsored by global information services group Experian, were part of a national push by the group to ensure small firms have greater access to good advice from trusted professionals.

Emma Jones, MBE, founder of Enterprise Nation, who handed out the awards said: "It's our mission to ensure that we can help deliver the right advice to the right business at the right time in order to help them to grow.  These awards celebrate the great work these passionate individuals deliver to the small business community every day.

"We think it's high time their tireless contribution to the British economy was recognised - and bring it to the attention of the wider world."

Ian Graham, head of partnership development at Experian, said: "The Top 50 Adviser Awards demonstrate clearly that behind every good business, there's a really good adviser.

"These awards have uncovered some excellent people with all the right skills, passion and experience to contribute significantly to UK business growth and sustainability. We applaud them."

The winners in ten categories included Martin Norbury, from Camberley in Surrey, who runs Advocate Business Services, helping to advise firms on growth and international expansion. He picked up the award for delivering export advice.

He said: "In 2010 I was a corporate CEO in charge of 600 people.  On September 9 of that year, my wife and I went to the hospital to have our first child.  Sadly, our daughter died shortly after birth.

"That experience changed my life. I left my job and set up my business because I wanted to help other people live a more balanced life, because I didn't as a CEO."

He now advises firms on growth strategy and export. He and his wife now have six-year-old twins Lilly and James.

The other winners included Charles Cracknell, who picked up the award for strategy advice.  The Hull-based adviser runs the Youth Enterprise Bank and uses his expertise to help young entrepreneurs fulfil their enterprise goals.

The other top ten advisers were Daniel Priestly, founder of international strategy and technology firm Dent Global,  who was named as the top adviser in Leadership and Management; Alison Edgar, founder of The Entrepreneur's Godmother, based in Swindon, who was named Sales and Marketing adviser of the year; Dawn Crossingham, who picked up the Finance and Funding award as part of her work for the Dorset Growth Hub; former firefighter John Berrisford, part of the support team at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue was named top Legal adviser of the year for his work in fire prevention and as a safety legislation adviser; Patricia Van den Akker, director at The Design Trust, who picked up the top accolade for branding and design; Amanda Ruiz, who was named top PR adviser for her work with early stage entrepreneurs;  Delia Porter, Wimbledon-based IT expert and founder of The Business Clan, who picked up the award for IT and Web support; and finally Peter Lawrence, founder of the Kings Lynn-based Human Capital Department was named HR adviser of the year.

The competition also named 50 advisers in the ten core disciplines from across the UK that specifically offer quality advice to smaller firms in order to help them grow.  Enterprise Nation has developed an adviser platform with the ICAEW that can help improve the speed and efficiency of selecting and connecting with a good adviser.

The competition saw hundreds of advisers nominations and more than 5,000 votes were cast during in the voting phase.

More details here www.enterprisenation.com/top50

ENDS

For more details contact Liz Slee 07540 060112 liz@enterprisenation.com

Enterprise Nation is a growing small business network and business support provider with more than 70,000 members. Its aim is to help people turn their good ideas into great businesses - through expert advice, events, acceleration and networking. Enterprise Nation was founded in 2005 by Emma Jones MBE , also co-founder of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain. She is author of best-selling business books including Spare Room Startup, Working 5 to 9, Go Global, Start a Business for £99 and the StartUp Kit, Going for Growth.  In 2016 she was announced as the Government's Trade Ambassador and SME Crown Representative.