FSB London Small Business Awards 2023

Local News 29 Mar 2023

Winners sparkle in the London limelight at the FSB Small Business Awards 2023

Photo Credit: Sharron Wallace

Twelve lucky small business winning stars became regional champions at the London final of the high-profile ‘FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards’. The finalists and winners enjoyed a celebratory lunch held on Monday 27 March at The Tower Hotel, St Katherine’s Dock joined by FSB National Chair – Martin McTague and London Deputy Mayor for Business – Rajesh Agrawal.

Winners from 11 of the London final categories now go forward to the FSB’s prestigious UK final with a chance to be crowned the UK Small Business of the Year. It’s an opportunity for widespread recognition being part of the largest event of its kind in the small business calendar.

This annual FSB competition is designed to find the winning businesses from across the capital and we thank our sponsors – NatWest, Reach, FSB Insurance Service, Aldermore, Cashplus Bank, Tyl by NatWest for helping celebrate small businesses and keeping the awards free to enter.

We congratulated Lewisham based ‘SweetDoughThings Ltd’ who won Exporter of the Year. Founded by single mum, Gbemi Shitta, who started the confectionary company in a tiny kitchen which now retails both in the UK and abroad. Also, the first UK company to manufacture vegan sugar-free candy.

Islington based ‘NEMI Teas’, a tea company and social enterprise providing job opportunities to refugees living in Greater London was awarded Micro Business of the Year by sponsor - Tyl by NatWest.

Hounslow’s ‘The Fertility Coaching Company’ won the Diversity & Inclusion Award sponsored by the London Business Hub and presented by London’s Deputy Mayor. Recognised for their mission to help workplaces become Fertility Inclusive.

Category sponsor, Aldermore, presented the Family Business of the Year Award to ‘A Little Big Kid’ founded in 2022 by husband, wife and four year old son team to celebrate the magical moments of growing up. Their Eat range is the UK’s first healthy subscription snack box just for children.

Other winners on the day included ‘Faradion Limited’ who took the London Business & Product Innovation Award with its global market leader position in sodium-ion battery technology. The Sustainability Award went to Hackney borough ‘Ripple Energy’ which has reinvented clean energy ownership enabling small businesses and households to own part of a large-scale wind farm and get their share of the power via the grid. Larger Small Business of the Year was awarded to Camden based ‘C&C Search’ aiming to be the destination recruiter for London in their sectors offering a different future for recruitment and training. ‘GoodPAYE (WeAreGoodGiving Ltd) is a tech-for-good startup in Westminster on a mission to revolutionise Payroll Giving and were awarded Start-Up Business of the Year. This year’s Community Award went to ‘Restorative Justice for All (RJ4All)’ – a Southwark based business working to address poverty and enhance community cohesion and human rights with a social hub at Rotherhithe Community Centre. Another Southwark based business win by ‘Studio Dine’ who received the Self-employed/Freelancer of the Year award. Started in 2019 by Callie Punchard who continues to feed her obsession with the act of dining and bringing together passions for food, colour and creativity. The ‘STAXO Group’ from the London Borough of Richmond were awarded the Service Excellence Award – a mid-market leader in digital eco-system delivery; a vibrant web design and development agency with a goal to provide innovative, connected, creative and seamless customer journeys for clients. The 2023 London Young Entrepreneur of the Year was awarded to Westminster’s Karolina Ba of ‘Kaba Herbs Ltd/THEENK’. This, in recognition for the crafting of holistic products to support mental health and balance on a daily basis.

Michael Lassman, FSB London Regional Chair, said:

“Congratulations to all this year’s London FSB Celebrating Small Business Award winners – stars of the region’s small business community.

“London’s small businesses have been recognised for their fantastic innovation, enterprise and accomplishments – all are at the heart of the region’s economy and communities.

“The best of luck to all our London winners for the upcoming UK national award finals”.

The FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards recognise and celebrate the huge contribution that smaller businesses and the self-employed make to the UK’s prosperity – the innovators, our economic drivers – the backbone of our communities.

Twelve area awards finals take place between January and March, with all the winners proceeding to the national UK finals taking place in Birmingham in May 2023.

Event coverage can be viewed on Greater London Facebook and Greater London Twitter pages.

More information about the 2023 winners: