Imagematch wins UK Social Enterprise of the Year at the 2011 Startups Awards
A Shropshire business established 18 months ago to help long-term unemployed people back into work has won UK Social Enterprise of the Year at a prestigious awards ceremony in London.
Shrewsbury based Imagematch Social Enterprise CIC walked away with the award at the recent Startups Awards 2011. Organised by Startups.co.uk the annual awards are sponsored by Nat West and this year took place at Kensington Roof Gardens.
Three finalists were nominated for each of the 13 categories, with the eventual winners of each category selected by a panel consisting of some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs, including Joe Cohen, founder of Seatwave, Mitesh Soma, founder of Chemist Direct, Rosemary Forsyth, founder of the Forsyth Group, and Lara Morgan, founder of the Pacific Direct Group. Judging criteria was based on sales volume, visionary leadership and social and community responsibility.
Mark Gibson, director at Imagematch, which also received a commendation at the Morgan Foundation Entrepreneur Awards in October, said: “We were up against some inspirational people at the ceremony who had backing from the likes of Dragons’ Den’s Deborah Meaden, so to win this award is fantastic. It represents the hard work my team have put in this year. We are rigorous and comprehensive in our employability assessments and always aim to provide good quality candidates for potential employers. However, while we are very pleased to win an award, 2012 will bring further challenges. There are now one million unemployed young people in the UK and through the Work Programme and Jobs Growth Wales we will strive to find opportunities for those of them in the region to get back into work.”
Organisers were impressed with the strong and diverse selection of finalists. Steph Welstead, editor of Startups.co.uk, said: “We were blown away by the standard of entries to this year’s Startups Awards. All of the businesses who made it to the 2011 final have shown innovation, guts and determination and the success they have achieved against the backdrop of the economic downturn is a true testament to the strength of UK entrepreneurship.
“Competition was fierce but the judges felt that each one of our winners had demonstrated sheer brilliance. Their stories will provide much inspiration both to people who are looking to start a business and to those who have already taken the plunge. We would like to congratulate all of this year’s winners and look forward to reporting on their continued growth and success in the years to come.”
