JUST one week remains to nominate companies for the 23rd annual Glasgow Business Awards, with the deadline for entries set to close on Friday, July 23.
Hosted by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the prestigious awards celebrate the best of the city’s business community with winners selected in a range of areas across 16 categories.
The awards will also reflect the fact that Glasgow is staging the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in November, with four categories requiring entrants to demonstrate sustainability.
Established in 1998, the awards will take place on October 7 following an enforced suspension last year because of coronavirus.
The Herald is media partner for the awards with Royal Bank of Scotland the headline sponsor.
This year will also see the return of the Glasgow’s Favourite Business award, in association with The Herald’s sister newspaper the Glasgow Times.
Vehicle engineering firm Allied Vehicles Group, based in Glasgow and employing over 540 people, won three categories at the last event in 2019 and was crowned the Most Outstanding Business, Family Business of the Year, and Best Performing Large Business.
Reflecting on the award wins and the challenges brought by the last year, David Facenna, corporate culture director at Allied Vehicles Group, said: “Without a doubt, the past 18 months have been tough for everyone. In March 2020, many of our staff were placed on furlough.
"Initially, we were unable to trade in the vast majority of our markets or manufacture our wheelchair-accessible vehicles, taxis and minibuses. Instead, we traded online, allowing our customer services team and skeleton support staff to remain.
"Our Allied Autocare departments stayed open throughout each lockdown supporting blue light vehicles as an extension to key workers, keeping them on the roads during the pandemic."
Mr Facenna added: "Glasgow has so many amazing businesses with incredible stories which must be shared – these businesses act as inspiration for others experiencing hard times or looking to pursue a new venture."
He noted that entering the awards had been an "excellent exercise to step back and reflect on what we had achieved" with the night itself "incredibly special".
“We are a proud family business, with many members still actively working in the company," Mr Facenna. "Being a family business allowed us to pull together even more during the hard times and gave us the adaptability to get through them.
“We have also recently bought premises in Coventry to expand our used wheelchair accessible vehicle market, in addition to expanding our parts department with a new site in Aberdeen, highlighting exciting times ahead for the business.
“This year’s GBA awards provide an opportune time, more than ever, to look back at the past year and take into account how much we all managed to achieve in spite of the circumstances.”
To enter this year’s Glasgow Business Awards, visit: https://glasgowbusinessawards.com/
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