If you joined us for our Zoom ceremony to honour this year’s business category finalists and find out who won, you’ll know what an incredible afternoon it was! If you weren’t able to join the virtual celebration, here’s the winner of the coveted 2021 Soldiering On Business Scale Up Award. (You can also now see the winners of the Business Start Up and Community Impact Awards.)
This exciting ceremony was hosted by TV presenter Radzi Chinyanganya, who was delighted to meet such an incredible mix of business people running an eclectic range of companies. The event was attended by the category finalists and sponsors, Patron Of the Soldering on Awards, the Rt. Hon. Earl Howe; Jessie Owen, Director of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs; David Wiseman, Director of Grants and Programmes at the Invictus Games; and Lieutenant General Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE.
The Earl Howe, Patron of the Soldiering On Awards said:
“These Awards recognise and acknowledge the enormous efforts and achievements from many people across the military community who help and support those in need; volunteers, charity teams, public servants, social enterprises, veterans themselves, individuals, employees… the wider military community is incredibly diverse!
“That help and support manifests itself in acts of kindness, the raising of money, provision of services, tremendous acts of courage or endeavour and ultimately doing great things to support those who have served.
“Our service men and women take part in military campaigns at the behest of the Government and on behalf of us all. They deserve not only our respect and thanks, but also our support. Thank you to all our finalists, many of whom are veterans themselves, for being exemplar in providing that support.”
Our finalists were:
Jane Chappell – Arcanum Information Security Ltd – providing cyber security, digital forensics and penetration testing services to highly classified MOD projects, Arcanum is at the forefront of its sector.
Kieron Honeyman – KH Plant Training Ltd – delivering accredited construction training, more than 190 companies and countless self-employed clients use KH Plant as a ‘one stop shop’ for all their health, safety, training and testing needs.
Richard Hamlyn Tucker MBE – AAA Caring Caretaker Ltd – providing specialised cleaning services and domestic support to universities, the NHS and the MoD, including infection controls that have supported combatting the spread of Covid-19.
You can read more about these finalists here.
We are delighted to announce that the Winner of the Business Scale Up Award is…
Richard Hamlyn Tucker MBE – AAA Caring Caretaker Ltd
Richard H Tucker MBE set up AAA Caring Caretaker in 2015 to provide cleaning for university accommodation and student housing in Durham.
Over the past two years, the firm has enjoyed significant, rapid growth and now delivers specialised services to the NHS for cleaning and domestic support in seven hospitals, as well as for the Ministry of Defence. Its specialisms include infection controls, and its highly-valued work with the NHS has supported combatting the spread of Covid-19.
AAA Caring Caretaker is a company that values its people, including those with disabilities – both seen and unseen. They pride themselves on social value credentials, employing many veterans, especially those suffering from mental health issues. Commitment to developing its team has enabled the firm to tender for major commercial contracts, as the respect from Richard’s employees helps to ensure AAA Caring caretaker has been able to adapt and become a highly profitable enterprise.
“Lessons Richard learnt whilst serving in the RAF, such as responsibility, accountability, commanding teams in challenging operational conditions, often with immediate improvisation in order to achieve the goal, have taught him how to grow in stature and manage people.”
In order to further develop the business, the firm accessed start-up loans via X-Forces Enterprise and Funding Circle to invest in training standards. They obtained ISO 9001-2014 certification and bought new equipment, and have since won contracts with Blue Chip Companies worth up to £1million.
“The firm’s reputation is of a company that can not only meet the criteria of the contracted work, but exceed expectations and deliver a first-class service. It values its clients and staff as integral to its success, for now and in the future.”
Richard Hamlyn Tucker MBE said:
“It means a lot – especially for the whole of my team. I’m not known for being speechless or short of saying anything but here we are! Thank you everyone, absolutely chuffed and delighted of course”
“Back when we started the business, there were a couple of times where we tried to do everything but we had to take a step back, and move forward in a different format. That’s where I think the military service element comes in – looking at an operation, is it going right? Is it going to plan? The tenacity to say ‘actually we can change this’, and ‘we can do this’. We don’t always know where we think we’re going, but we have to recognise where things might change, and take the step to change it. That might make or break another company!”
Lt Colonel Ren Kapur MBE, CEO of X-Forces Enterprise and Soldiering On Awards said:
“We are delighted to congratulate these inspirational winners and it was incredibly special to gather everyone together and celebrate our amazing community after such a challenging 18 months.
“These virtual events have allowed us all to come together and celebrate once more, as we build-up to our glamorous in-person Gala Dinner on December 15th. Having not had the opportunity to celebrate in-person since 2019, this December will be the military gala dinner of the year and being able to have everyone together for a night of celebration is something that we’ve all needed for some time. I’m very much looking forward to shining a light on the incredible armed forces community.
A word from our Sponsor…
Jane Goodland, Group Head of Sustainability at LSEG said:
The London Stock Exchange Group is immensely proud to support this particular award for a third year running. It is fair to say that the nominations this year were all incredibly impressive and we are delighted to be here with our three finalists who are all winners in our eyes. I was on the judging panel for this category and was blown away by the diversity and strength of all the nominations.
The next two Thursdays will see the other winners revealed during exciting Zoom events. If you’d like to join the audience, please email soa@x-forces.com.
