A hotel owned by the founders of Cofresh and a Loughborough business software group valued at more than £9 billion were among the big winners at the 2022 LeicestershireLive Business Awards.
The list of winners was announced at a black tie ceremony at the King Power Stadium in Leicester in front of the great and good from the regional business scene.
They included Rutland Hall Hotel & Spa which was named Medium Business of the Year. It was bought by Cofresh founders Dineshbhai and Savitaben Patel in 2020 who have been carefully refurbishing the bedrooms, restaurant and bar areas after changing the name from Barnsdale Hall.
The team has gone from 70 staff to around 150, and there are plans to grow even further – including doubling turnover and staff count in the next couple of years.
This year’s Large Business Award went to Access Group, Leicestershire’s newest big business, which relocated to a £20 million global headquarters on the Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park a couple of years ago.
Since its 1991 incorporation, the group has been through investment rounds and acquisitions to become a leading provider of business management software in the UK, Ireland and Asia Pacific.
In just the last couple of years, Access has more than doubled in size, driven by double-digit organic growth as well as the strategic mergers and acquisitions. It has grown its customer base to more than 60,000, and now employs 5,000 people in nine countries.
Meanwhile, full service, independent creative communications agency Cite was named overall 2022 Business of the Year after earlier collecting the Professional Services Business of the Year award.
Based in Friar Lane, on the edge of Leicester city centre, Cite has clients across the UK and Europe.
It employs more than two dozen specialists across creative, technology, strategy, planning and delivery. It is led by Laura Bent and Dafydd Prichard and works with brands including the NHS, Continental Tyres, Sika UK, Puzzel, Sekonda, Saint-Gobain, Link and Motimate.
The 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award went to Leicester Riders chairman Kevin Routledge who started his association with British basketball as a player in the 1970s at the Loughborough All Stars, the team that would go on to become the Riders.
The Canadian is also a director of the Morningside Arena, the new home of the Leicester Riders, which opened in January 2016, and which supported the club’s recent national successes on the court.
The stadium is currently in the midst of big expansion plans.
Headline sponsors of this years’ awards are top 50 full service commercial law firm Freeths Plc and the University of Leicester.
Leicester Mercury editor Adam Moss said all the winners were deserving of recognition and each one reflected the overall quality of businesses that are proud to call Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland their home.
Mr Moss, who also oversees the LeicestershireLive website, said: “Congratulations to all the winners and to all the finalists who have done so much to make these awards so special.
“One thing that stands-out about all the winners – on top of their remarkable achievements – is their wide diversity.
“From marketing agencies to manufactures, hotels, IT and retail specialists they sum up the entrepreneurship that is the bedrock of the region in which we live.
“It’s that diversity which helped us through the credit crunch and through Covid and it is that diversity that will get us through the current economic difficulties the world is facing.
“I look forward to seeing each and every one of them achieve even greater things.”
The evening was hosted by TV presenter and magician Ben Hanlin who was thrilled to present the awards.
He said: “There's so much business talent in Leicestershire, and it's great that people are being rewarded for their hard work and enterprise.
“It’s fantastic to catch up with old friends, meet the new entrants this year, and support the business community in the county in person."
