Meet the Soldering On Awards Finalists: Business of the Year – Start Up Award, in partnership with Sage

Business of the Year – Start Up Award

The Business of the Year category is in recognition of a new business that was started by an individual from the Armed Forces community, that has been in business for less than 2 years.

The chosen finalists for the 2019 Business of the Year – Start Up Award are:

• Bee Accountancy
• British Babies
• Geollect
• Network Training Partnership
• Y2X

The Business of the Year – Start Up Award 2019 is in partnership with Sage. Debbie Wall, Sage Foundation VP says:

“Ex-military personnel make brilliant entrepreneurs. With this in mind, we are building programmes in North America, the UK and Australia to help veterans set up and become successful business owners.

“Along with our own grants and support for key organisations, including our partnership with X-Forces Enterprise, we are building a network across our customer and partner base to increase veteran employment rates.

“We wholeheartedly congratulate every shortlisted entrant.”

Meet the finalists

Bee Accountancy

Bee Accountancy are a London based Accountancy firm owned by Nadia Hossen Mamode. As a military spouse herself, Nadia recognised the gap in the market for providing accountancy and tax services for those in the Armed Forces community. The business has doubled its customer base since setup and is going from strength to strength. To find out more about Bee Accountancy see: www.beeaccountancy.co.uk

British Babies

British Babies has been founded by military spouse Willow Hearne using her British military family heritage as inspiration for her ethical, eco-conscious baby clothing brand. The business champions British manufacturing and all baby models are from the Armed Forces community. To find out more about British Babies see: www.Britishbabies.co.uk

Geollect

Geollect was set up by Royal Navy and US Government Veterans and have revolutionised the way in which some insurance claims are dealt by offering indisputable evidence in certain cases and have saved claimants millions. They have formed strong working relationships with various high-profile organisations including being approached by various government and military officials. To find out more about Geollect see: www.geollect.com

Network Training Partnership

Network Training Partnership provides integrated training and recruitment solutions to the automotive, logistics and recovery industry and with an additional focus on supporting the military community. All their instructors are ex-military and Network Training Partnership provide free training and access to jobs in the industry, working in conjunction with CTP and the REME Association Jobs Agency. They have been awarded a Highways England Training contract and deliver training at the Fire Service college, amongst other high-profile companies.  To find out more about Network Training Partnership, see: https://www.ntplimited.co.uk

Y2X

Y2X are a specialist IT consultancy helping Veterans into employment through free training and experience. Y2X provide exceptional project-based outcomes for any organisation facing complex IT challenges. They have drawn on their own experiences and applied their entrepreneurial talents to overcome adversity themselves, to help other Veterans transition from the Armed Forces to Civvy street. To find out more about Y2K see: www.y2x.uk

“All our finalists are outstanding ambassadors for the Armed Forces Community and winners in their own right. The 2019 Awards have seen a record number of high-quality nominations being received from across the Armed Forces Community and beyond. These start-up business Finalists demonstrate how skills and capability developed during service transfer so well in to the world of entrepreneurship.” Ren Kapur MBE Founder and CEO X-Forces Enterprise

All the finalists will be hosted at a special reception where they will be given the opportunity to network amongst each other and meet our judges and partners, including representatives from Sage. For more updates on the Soldering On Awards, see: https://soldieringon.org