The Growth Business of the Year award, sponsored by University of East Anglia, at the Norfolk Business Awards 2022, will go to an organisation that has achieved strong financial growth in the past three years with no signs of slowing down.
Let's meet the finalists for this year's award.
The Goat Shed Farm Shop & Kitchen
Based in Honingham, 10 miles west of Norwich, The Goat Shed began life in March 2020 as just that, a shed. Just over two years later and it is now a large farm shop and kitchen operating seven days a week with a highly-engaged team of 28 employees.
As a business born out of the pandemic, The Goat Shed greatly impressed the judges with its great results while also supporting the community and aiming for expansion.
The personality, drive and passion of the business shone through and the business demonstrated an “excellent mission and values” as well as “impressive community engagement through social media”.
The judges praised the business’ “passionate” leadership team, which they said is committed to delivering quality products and services that respond to and build community.
AVANT Tecno UK
Headquartered in Bridgeham, near Thetford, AVANT Tecno UK is a family-owned business that manufactures compact multi-purpose loaders at its plant in Finland. It serves a broad spectrum of end users through a growing network of regional dealers.
Founded in 1999, AVANT prides itself on employing local where possible and engages with local charitable initiatives. The business has more than doubled its staff and its turnover in the last two years.
The judges said that AVANT is “an extremely strong business that Norfolk should be proud of” and were very impressed by its growth.
They said that the business has a clear strategy and ambition for growth, underpinned by a commitment to its staff, dealer network and customers, and added that the “empowered” staff team are clearly committed to the business’ success.
Hamilton Blake Consultants LLP
Hamilton Blake Consultants LLP is a chartered tax practice with offices in King’s Lynn and Norwich that specialises in research and development (R&D) for the architecture and engineering industries.
The business has grown from three members of staff to 24 since 2020 and partners with over 400 clients, including some of the largest architects and engineers in the UK.
Praising the business’ “brilliant” financial performance and “excellent” strategy for growth through employee engagement, the judges said that Hamilton Blake is “a shining example of how growth can be achieved while remaining true to your vision, values and culture”.
They said that the strong management team has been able to identify sectors where it can make a real difference and has achieved “excellent financial results” by proactively targeting a core market.
Minors & Brady
Minors & Brady is an independent estate and letting agent employing 63 people across five branches in Norwich, Wroxham, Caister-on-Sea, Dereham and Lowestoft.
Established in 2015 by local business people Jamie Minors and Alex Brady, the company has since grown to become a leading independent estate agency in our region. It provides home movers at all ends of the market with a personalised moving experience and has large amounts of positive feedback.
The judges applauded Minors & Brady’s growth, its vision and “the hunger it has to be successful”.
They said that the business has a clear strategy to continue its growth and showed “excellent” financials, results and innovation within the sector, as well as a strong leadership team that is committed to recruiting the right people and supporting staff’s professional development.
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