Sales Coaching Solutions, the Chippenham-based business consultants, was awarded the Francesca Kemp Award for Small Business at a special “Blue Tie” event in London earlier this month.
The national campaign, Small Business Saturday, hosted the event on October 5 at St Andrew’s Church in Holborn, London, in partnership with Facebook. The event is an annual celebration of the campaign’s ‘Small Biz 100,’ the 100 businesses chosen each year to be celebrated by the campaign, and is held in memory of Francesca Kemp, a Small Biz 100 who passed away in 2015. The Francesca Kemp Award for Small Business is given to the business that “contributes the most” to its community and the wider small business community across the UK.
Speaking at the event, Alison Edgar, founder of Sales Coaching Solutions, said, “winning the Francesca Kemp Award for Small Business means a huge amount to me as I knew Fran well and I know she would be so proud of how far Small Business Saturday has come. I have always been a big supporter of the campaign and am passionate about working with entrepreneurs, so to have that recognised is very special. I look forward to doing more and more to promote small businesses this year!”
Small Business Saturday claims it is the UK’s “most successful small business campaign” and is this year celebrating its 5th anniversary. Last year saw £717m spent with small businesses across the UK on Small Business Saturday, up 15% on the previous year. The campaign trended at number one in the UK on Twitter on the day with more than 130,000 campaign-related tweets being sent, reaching over 140 million people globally. Over 80% of local councils supported the campaign.
Michelle Ovens, director of the Small Business Saturday Campaign, described Alison as “indefatigable” and an “incredible ambassador” for the campaign.
Small Business Saturday, which is a grassroots, not-for-profit campaign, was originally founded by American Express in the U.S. in 2010. The campaign also benefits from the backing of leading business organisations including the Federation of Small Businesses and Enterprise Nation. The campaign is also supported by Facebook, Dropbox, ACCA, Mercedes Benz Vans, Indeed, Vistaprint, and Lightspeed.
For more information, please visit www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com
Pictured above: Alison Edgar, founder of Sales Coaching Solutions and the Entrepreneur’s Godmother
