21 Jul 2022
By Richard Muir, Deputy Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
The countdown to the Glasgow Business Awards is in full swing with, all but one, category entries now closed and the judging process beginning shortly.
I truly believe Glasgow is a great city with a vibrant business community and it’s a real highlight in our calendar to celebrate innovative, ambitious and resilient businesses at our annual awards – taking place on 6 October.
As always, each category will champion the successes of the city’s business community and celebrate various business characteristics from innovation, communication and international trade to community wealth, resilience and health and wellbeing.
In recent years to further highlight the efforts and achievements of Glasgow businesses on the road to net zero targets, three categories were introduced with a sustainability angle including Green Champion, Net Zero Achievement and Sustainable Development.
Although recognised at our annual awards these business characteristics are among those that we champion all year round at Glasgow Chamber.
For example with international trade, we know Scotland is a trading nation with a long and proud exporting history which supports our economic growth. It’s part of our role as Glasgow Chamber to facilitate connections driving the value and volume of exports, sustainably.
Glasgow Chamber’s own Climate Chamber initiative was developed after COP26 and aims to harness the momentum of the summit and build a new green high skills and high value economy.
A vital element of our follow up work has been to connect with 85 companies from 15 countries who have climate and trade aspirations and who took part in our international trade mission last November. We have a unique opportunity to tap into the British Chamber of Commerce network and work with partner Chambers in countries such as Norway, Germany, Italy, USA, Israel, Singapore and Indonesia, to increase trade, facilitate meaningful connections and influence policy based on the requirements of businesses.
To maintain that momentum, we have created an online platform called Climate Chamber City, encouraging businesses as a community to continue to connect and learn through virtual classrooms and to trade with each other to win valuable contracts in a sustainable way.
A company which successfully marries sustainability and international trade, is one of our previous award winners, Cullen Eco-friendly Packaging. Everything it manufactures is bio-degradable and sustainable, if possible, and made in Glasgow and it now exports as far as Chile, Singapore and Australia.
Individuals will also be crowned at Glasgow Business Awards later this year through the Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Young Business Person of the Year Award.
Some of our previous individual winners have included Chris Hughes, Founder and CEO of communication support software business Present Pal and Tony Quinn from IT specialists Silver Cloud.
In addition to these awards, we have the Award for Lifetime Achievement and Glasgow’s Favourite Business.
Glasgow’s Favourite Business is our only public nominated award and with anonymous nominations still open with Glasgow Times, it’s a chance to spotlight businesses, large and small, that champion the essence of our city.
In previous years our shortlist has included retailers, venues and cafes as well as travel and technology companies. It’s a valuable accolade for any organisation, and so we urge people to show support by nominating their local businesses.
And finally, Royal Bank of Scotland’s Award for Most Outstanding Business will be presented on the night, as the most prestigious accolade, to one of the winners of the competitive categories.
It’s true when they say that ‘People Make Glasgow’ and we have such a vibrant and diverse business community, homegrown in our city, and The Glasgow Business Awards seeks to recognise them.
Now in its 24th year, the winners of the Glasgow Business Awards are always an elite and impressive cohort covering a broad range of products and services. I must also say a big thank you to our sponsors that continue to support our event and we look forward to championing more successes of our city in October.
This article was first published in The Herald on Thursday 21 July 2022
