GBEA love on Valentines Day

After making our relationship with Starling Bank official ?? (see what we did there?), Team GBEA are super excited for our first date of 2020 ?? Applications for the 2020 #GBEA open on Monday 2nd March!

You can find out more here!

2019 was a brilliant year for us as we received 3,000+ entries, traveled to three new regions, changed the style of the regional finals, shortlisted more than 700 entrepreneurs and crowned more than 100 regional winners and 14 national winners.

2020 is set to be even better, with another record breaking year anticipated, our new festival event (Great British Entrepreneurs LIVE) and also the increased distribution of our magazine, Great British Entrepreneurs (winging its way to 10,000 people next week!)

There’s a lot of love in this community, and given its Valentines Day I thought I'd share some of the lovely things people have been saying about us.....

Will King, King of Shaves

“The Great British Entrepreneur Awards matches my ambition to not only celebrate entrepreneurs and their achievements but to support them in their endeavours. It’s an honour to have been a member of the judging panel over the past few years and I look forward to seeing what 2020 brings.”

Dr David Banner MBE & Richard Pring

“The Great British Entrepreneurs Awards was a real highlight of last year for us. Not just because of the recognition we received but the fact it’s such a positive, feel good event which not only inspires the attendees but also creates invaluable networking opportunities. It’s definitely providing an important role in the UK of not just championing and celebrating entrepreneurs’ but also connecting them. Enabling them to socialise, share ideas and knowledge, and even collaborate with each other.”

Celia Hodson, Hey Girls

“Winning The Great British Entrepreneur of the year 2019 has been a very special experience for both myself and the Hey Girls team. Whilst only a few months in, the recognition and opportunities are coming thick and fast. As a start-up Social Enterprise this kind of accolade is invaluable to help us grow and evolve. Onwards and upwards!”

Guy Schanschieff MBE, Bambino Mio

“I was thrilled to win the Entrepreneur for Good Award and the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Midlands. Entering The Great British Entrepreneur Awards gave us the opportunity to talk about all of the impactful work that we’re doing at Bambino Mio and winning awards such as these simply fuels our passion to raise awareness of the numerous benefits that reusable baby products have for our environment, finances and baby.”

Damien Lee, Mr Lee’s Pure Noodles

“I’ve been an entrepreneur all my life, and when I did stop to think about winning the award, it felt like such an honour and maybe it’s a little pat on the back to myself. All the hard work was finally being recognised, and Mr Lees was the catalyst for that. We have won lots of awards over the years, but this is the one that really meant a lot to me.”

Josh Wintersgill, easyTravelseat powered by Able Move Ltd

“GBEA is utterly brilliant at recognising the wonderful and diverse entrepreneurial talent we have in Great Britain. Winning the Young Entrepreneur and Great British Entrepreneur of the Year for the South West Region was literally mind-blowing and is now inspiring me to push myself harder than ever before!”

Nick Coleman, Snaffling Pig

“There’s so much amazing innovation and creativity in UK F&B brands right now, so this recognition was incredibly special, at a really pivotal time for Snaffling Pig. As an entrepreneur, you come up against so many unexpected highs and lows - being able to share that with other founders, within the GBEA community, has been incredibly rewarding and I’d recommend it to anyone thinking about going for it in 2020.”

Louise Burns, Nineteen Recruitment

“We’ve been riding a very exciting wave since winning the 2019 North East Service Industries Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Not only has it increased our profile considerably and given me the biggest boost of confidence and validation, it has allowed us to access, and become part of a very special community. The GBEA community are incredibly supportive, progressive and inspiring. I feel very honoured to be part of it.”

Claire Harper, Muscle Moose

“GBEA is a community that really does work to the benefit of everyone involved. Something you don’t realise, even being in business yourself, is just how many incredible British businesses there are and we should be sharing success stories and championing those getting out there and doing it more – and that’s exactly what GBEA does.”