Devon trio triumph in South West small business awards

Three Devon businesses emerged as award winners this week at the annual contest to find the best small businesses in the South West.

The FSB South West Small Business Awards final saw more Devon companies shortlisted for honours than any other region and at the Weston-super-Mare finals three of them - The Devon Seaweed Company of Newton Abbot, Okehampton Community Kitchen and Simon Hall Will Writing of Exeter returned home as regional winners. All three will now have a chance to go for national FSB titles at the UK final in Birmingham in May.

Okehampton Community Kitchen scooped the Community Business title, The Devon Seaweed Company took the Family Business accolade while will writer Simon Hall won the self-employed/freelancer award. It was the second consecutive year a Devon sole trader had won this title after success in 2022 for Rebecca Seeley-Harris from Topsham.

Simon Hall said he was the first to admit working on people’s wills is talking about things people do not even want to think about, but he hoped by building trust and relationships with clients he has made it easier for them. And he admitted he was very pleasantly surprised to have these efforts rewarded via his FSB award.

“I was genuinely shocked to win. I read all about the other entries which were all so good and I am therefore humbled to have won,” he said.

For Oakhampton Community Kitchen, the award meant validation for the company’s determination to battle on and start a new business during Covid. Rebecca Green had previously won an FSB award but had seen that business go under because of the pandemic but she and her team bounced back and launched her new venture to provide food support to her community and she said was delighted to have that effort rewarded.

“When you face your toughest times you are often your most creative and this is the result. We weren’t going to be beaten and we are so very pleased to have won,” she said.

And husband and wife team Stuart and Charlotte Baker of the Devon Seaweed Company, also expressed their delight at claiming an FSB title for their fast-growing business of creating gifts and artwork from seaweed left on the county’s beaches....

“It is an incredible honour to have won,” said Charlotte. “The standard of entries was so high, and it is just overwhelming to have been chosen. We are immensely grateful.”

The other Devon-based firms shortlisted for one of the trophies on offer across the 12 categories were The Techout (Barnstable), Cofton Holidays (Dawlish), Service Design Solutions (Plymouth), Naked Solar (Newquay), Nina Westwood (from MINSKI, Plymouth), Peter Betteridge Furnishers (Kingsbridge), Next Steps Tutors (Bideford), Smart Draining Limited (North Tawton), The Binge Box (Barnstable), Intellek (Newton Abbot), Rowe IT (Plymouth), Wightmore School of Dance (Tiverton), Exim Dance Company CIC (Plymouth), Community Horizons CIO (Plymouth), Devon and Cornwall Furniture Reuse Company (Plymouth) and Joanne Manville Virtual Assistant (Newton Abbot),.

Lee Nathan, the FSB Regional Chairman for the South West, said both the quality and quantity of the region’s entries this year had stunned the judges.

“Entries flooded in from all across our area from Cornwall, Dorset, Wiltshire, Bath, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Devon and even picking regional shortlists for the categories was a nightmare for our judges let alone actually picking the winners.

“This was our unique chance to showcase what we all truly believe – that the South West has the best, most innovative and most creative small businesses in the whole of the UK,” he said.

Sponsorship for the event came from Reach plc, NatWest, Tyl by NatWest, Aldermore, FSB Insurance, Weston College, Renishaw, Lexus Bristol and Gravity.

The full list for the South West area ‘FSB Celebrating Small Business Award’ winners for 2023 is:

Business & Product Innovation Award

PEEQUAL (Bristol )

Family Business of the Year

The Devon Seaweed Company (Newton Abbott, Devon)

Exporter of the Year

Mucky Nutz (Bude, Cornwall)

Sustainability Award

Feritech Global Ltd (Redruth)

Start-up Business of the Year

PEEQUAL (Bristol )

Diversity and Inclusion Award