The winner of the Small Business of the Year award, sponsored by Upp, at the Norfolk Business Awards 2022 will be a company with a turnover of up to £1m that demonstrates all-round excellence.
Here are the finalists for this year's Small Business of the Year award.
MAD-HR
MAD-HR is a leading HR consultancy in the East of England, with offices in Norwich, Ipswich and Chelmsford.
Launched in 2014, the business is known locally and nationally for its ‘Make A Difference’ brand of HR, and its team of HR experts hail from an array of sectors, making them well-placed to serve businesses of all sizes and in any industry.
Praising the entire staff’s “laser focus” on achieving first-class client feedback, the judges said that “few businesses exhibit such a clear vision as MAD-HR".
They said that the team is “utterly focused” on providing outstanding customer experiences and are empowered to share ideas. They also felt that MAD-HR goes further than simply delivering a good product by “demonstrating that good HR management is a capability and not just a function”.
Chadwicks
Based at the University of East Anglia, Chadwicks is a wealth management firm specialising in advising business leaders, helping them make better decisions for themselves, their family, their business and the environment.
For more than 25 years, Chadwicks has continued to grow by taking on bright young people and investing in their development to create a strong team of economics and business graduates.
The judges said that, by “living and breathing its values”, Chadwicks has added “significant value to the community in which it operates”. They said that the firm has built a sound business model while also investing heavily in “creating additional social capital by harnessing the wider skills and experience of its client base,” and has succeeded in creating an effective business ecosystem “by bringing like-minded people together”.
Meantime
Meantime is a creative video production company with offices in Norwich and London. Founded in 2013, the business aims to produce content that inspires and strikes conversation.
Its award-winning team of 17 staff specialises in high-end film and animation, with clients including NHS, Voxi, Decathlon and Arm.
Praising Meantime as a “forward-thinking production company at the forefront of Norwich’s vibrant creative sector”, the judges were impressed with the company’s clear mission and values, which are empowering staff and resulting in “impressive” revenue growth figures.
They said that Meantime’s leadership has an “open-minded approach,” resulting in “fantastic environmental schemes” and projects which enable employee creativity.
The judges added that Meantime’s “clear and focussed” business plan has expanded its reach to London, while simultaneously remaining true to its roots in Norwich.
The Feed
First formed in 2014, The Feed is a social enterprise working to prevent poverty, hunger and homelessness in Norwich.
It runs five cafés and a catering business, producing homemade food to generate most of its income and providing support for people facing barriers to employment to help them get back into work, assisting them in developing new skills and new routines.
The judges said that The Feed is an “exciting” enterprise that is “not only delivering immense value for the community, but doing so in a commercially sound and robust way”.
They added that The Feed is “underpinned by clear and powerful values that are applied to the day-to-day running of the company”, and praised the “modern, forward thinking and enabling” leadership, which has steered the organisation from strength-to-strength.
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