CTC Award for Best Business Entrepreneur in Hammersmith & Fulham’s Brilliant Business Awards

The second annual Hammersmith & Fulham Brilliant Business Awards, organised by H&F Council, saw over 2,300 votes cast by members of the public to nominate their favourite local enterprises. Across ten categories, judges selected a shortlist of eight businesses in each category. Shortlisted businesses from across the borough gathered at Bush Hall, an independent music venue steeped in history and built at the start of the 20th Century in W12.

Fighting off stiff competition from the other businesses shortlisted from up to 200 entrants, and surpassed only by the host venue’s owner, Clear Thinking’s Founder and Director, Kita Ikoku took to the stage to receive the runner-up award from Colin Lowen of the Royal Bank of Scotland RBS, the award sponsor. Speaking soon after the announcement, Kita said ‘It’s a real tribute to the hard work and enthusiasm of such a new and exciting team of people that, in only our third year of running, we’ve received such praise and recognition. It’s come at the end of a good few weeks for us – we recently learned that we’d been successful with an application for a three-year grant from John Lyon’s Charity to work with children and youth providers in the London Borough of Brent and have also secured a large contract for a partner organisation working with vulnerable women in East London, whose future has now been secured, at least for another year. So it’s celebrations all round!’

Opening the awards night was H&F Council Leader, Cllr Nicholas Botterill, who said: “H&F is the borough of opportunity and we do our utmost to help and support local businesses large or small to succeed. Local businesses are the lifeblood of our local economy and we salute you for all of your hard work and determination.”

With cheers and applause ringing out between each award, businesses received their trophies from H&F Mayor, Cllr Frances Stainton. The council’s Business Champion, Cllr Robert Iggulden, also praised the commitment of local business self-starters who have persevered through tough economic times in the past few years.