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news opinion
We all like winners – and in this issue, we have plenty of them
Successful companies have lined up to receive trophies in events we have staged in the Thames Valley and Solent regions – and we have showcased some of the great achievers in business in the south.
As part of our Solent 250 unveiling, awards were presented to businesses as diverse as Adams Morey and Fat Face, C4L, Liquid Friday and Lymington Precision Engineers.
And in the Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards, now celebrating its 19th year, companies from Xtrac to CV-Library, from Westcoast to Pulsant, from Style Acre to Retail Marketing Group and Phabrix, have walked away with the winners’ garlands.
And in Reading last month, finalists in the Haines Watts Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards,
supported by The Business Magazine, presented to the judges. Overall winner was a 17-year-old schoolboy, Jack Greetham, who feels he has been an entrepreneur since he was “a kid“ and has been inspired by Lord Sugar’s story.
Greetham may still be studying at school in Woking, but in his “spare time“ he has established Just Right Goods which, since it was incorporated, has generated £103,000 sales and a £25,000 profit. Selling Tablet PCs and mobile phone covers online, dealing direct with suppliers in China, building the brand and overseeing the accounts are all second nature to this schoolboy.
Being an achiever is what separates Greetham from others. Hard work, inspiration and entrepreneurial zeal are his, and other business winners’, stand-out qualities.
In 2014 we will be organising at least seven major awards events. So, stay tuned to find out who the south’s winning businesses are.
David Murray Publisher
MINI makes world debut
The new MINI has made its worldwide debut at MINI’s UK production plant in Oxford and features all-new vehicle architecture, an evolutionary design and a range of new fuel-efficient engines to give owners even more fun behind the wheel.
A £750 million investment across three of BMW Group’s UK manufacturing facilities marks the launch of the new car with a new 1,000-robot body shop at Plant Oxford, the debut of new technologies at the steel body pressings operation in Swindon, and new machining and assembly facilities to produce a new generation of three and four-cylinder engines at the Hams Hall engine plant near Birmingham.
The investment means additional job security for the 5,500 associates currently working in the UK MINI production network. Besides a
new state-of-the-art body shop, the Oxford plant also benefits from upgrades to its paint shop, its final assembly area and from a series of initiatives reducing the operation’s carbon footprint and improving its waste management processes.
The introduction of the new MINI has also seen a significant investment in the most extensive workforce training programme undertaken at the plant.
Even though there’s instant recognition – something which comes from having such a globally- identifiable design – the new MINI is completely new from the ground up in an effort to optimise its styling, function and performance.
Longer and wider than its predecessor, the new model provides more interior space for both the driver and passengers. Extensively revised suspension technology, reduced weight and increased rigidity have intensified the typical MINI go-kart feeling.
Its market launch is in Spring 2014.
Handelsbanken joins sponsors
Handelsbanken is the latest sponsor to join the line-up of supporters of the inaugural Thames Valley Property Awards.
The bank, which has offices in Reading, Slough, High Wycombe and throughout the region, will sponsor the Outstanding Contribution: Thames Valley Property Personality category in the 2014 awards.
Nominations have opened for the Property Awards, the exciting new awards scheme launched by The Business Magazine.
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TVPA, organised in association with Thames Valley Property Forum, will be hosted by top radio and television presenter Jeremy Vine and will be staged at Ascot Racecourse on May 8.
The Business Magazine has secured Vine, one of the BBC’s best-known names, for the inaugural event which will bring together the key commercial and residential property firms from across the region.
Other sponsors lined up for the event so far include SEGRO, Barton Willmore, Haslams, Vail Williams, Pitmans and Hicks Baker. TVPA is supported by EGi and London Irish.
www.businessmag.co.uk
The website is live at:
www.businessmag.co.uk/ thamesvalleypropertyawards
Nomination forms are available for download from December 1, 2013. Categories include Business Park of the Year, Commercial Property Consultancy of the Year, Commercial Property Deal of the Year, Town of the Year, and Housebuilder of the Year.
The qualifying period for nominations is January to December 2013 and entries should be submitted by the closing date of March 11, 2014.
David Murray, publisher of The Business Magazine, said: “These awards have been launched at exactly the right time, with the property market starting to experience a confident air again, after some difficult years. The total office take-up in the Thames Valley to Q3 is already higher than the whole of 2012, and there’s every sign that the upswing will continue.”
For table bookings, email Libby Morse, events executive, at:
libby@elcot.co.uk
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – DECEMBER13/JANUARY14
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