Chesterfield Entrepreneurs Archives - Destination Chesterfield

Chesterfield entrepreneur nominated for two Enterprising Women Awards

1st July 2024

The owner of a Chesterfield structural engineering business has been shortlisted in two categories at East Midlands Chamber’s Enterprising Women Awards.

Laura Holland, of Ecotech Engineers is amongst the finalists for the Small Business of the Year Award and Female Entrepreneur of the Year.

The nominations come fresh off the back of Laura also being nominated for a Generation Next Award, an East Midlands Chamber event which recognises young entrepreneurs and talent in the region.

The event, which takes place in Leicestershire on 20th September will celebrate the best female entrepreneurial talent across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.

Reacting to the nomination, Laura said: “I was so pleased to get this news after a whirlwind of a month personally and professionally!

“I’m honoured to be shortlisted with all these amazing women in Business for Small Business of the Year and Female Entrepreneur – especially now I have my own little lady to hope to inspire.

“Another nod to the brilliant team of Ecotech Engineers Ltd and everything we have accomplished over the last 4 years!”

Enterprising Women Co-Chair Eileen Perry said: “On International Women’s Day the theme was ‘Inspire Inclusion’ and these awards are part of embracing and celebrating our differences. The theme of promoting, growing and succeeding is something that we see year on year with the people that apply for the awards. There are people who, for example, have applied for a category like Apprentice of the Year and then gone on to win Female Entrepreneur of the Year. It’s not about the fall of men; it’s about the rise of women and believing in themselves more.”

Enterprising Women Co-Chair Jean Mountain said: “Year in, year out, over the years these awards have been phenomenal. We’ve been doing these awards for around 15 years now and the standard of entries gets higher and higher each year. We set the bar really high and you see it with the fabulous names of finalists that come through and the companies they represent.”

Ecotech Engineers supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 200 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

Chesterfield business earns rare honour of two prestigious Queen’s Awards

8th December 2022

Chesterfield based company Imagesound has been recognised with two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, awarded for outstanding achievement by UK businesses.

Imagesound and sister company Musicstyling provide bespoke music and messaging solutions to businesses in over 150 Countries world-wide, from retailers Co-op, Tesco, H&M, adidas and Target, hospitality including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Caffe Nero through to global hotel chains Marriott, Radisson and IHG.

The company’s highly responsive IMS system—designed and built in Chesterfield—received the coveted award for Innovation, delivering music, messaging and signage solutions to over 70,000 sites, detailing every song played or advertising message displayed.

This technology helped the business win its second award for International Trade with significant global sales growth across both Imagesound and MusicStyling brands.

Phil Burroughes, Managing Director of the Imagesound Group commented: “A Queen’s Award for Enterprise is amazing recognition of what the business has achieved, and we are delighted to have been one of the few businesses to be awarded two, especially as this was the first year that we have applied.”

To be eligible for the Innovation award a company must have an innovation that has not been sold before, demonstrating outstanding or continuous commercial success over a specified time frame. Imagesound was in the unique position of being able to fulfil both criteria.

Proof that that the organisation has achieved outstanding growth in overseas earnings, relative to business size and sector, was one of the key requirements for the International Trade award.

Following a reception at Buckingham Palace earlier this year the awards were formally presented by the Lord Lieutenant at Imagesound’s Chesterfield office on December 5^th, 2022.

Burroughes concludes: “It is a testament to everyone’s hard work across all nine of our global offices that we have achieved two such prestigious awards. To my knowledge we are the only company in our sector to ever do so, reinforcing the dedication and expertise of our teams across the world.”

Find out more about Chesterfield’s diverse Creative and Digital Sector here.