Queen’s Award for Enterprise & £10 million for Jamie Murray-Wells

Winners of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise and Enterprise Promotion were announced today.

One of the recipients, for his work in promoting entrepreneurship, was Jamie Murray-Wells on a day when the company he founded, Glasses Direct, announced it had secured £10 million in additional investment for expansion into the US.

All in all a good day for the young entrepreneur, but also for all those who received Royal recognition for their own business success or achievements in encouraging others on their own entrepreneurial journey.

2009 has proved to be a record year for the Queen’s Awards. A total of 194 businesses and individuals receiving the honour, the highest number in the Awards’ 44 year history.

Of these 135 were given to companies in the international trade category, 49 for innovation and 10 for sustainable development.

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion was given to a further 11 individuals – the prestigious lifetime achievement award going to Professor Allan Gibb former director of the small business centre at the University of Durham.

A recent survey of previous winners reveals the business benefits of the awards:

77% of winners reported the win had brought added commercial value to their business;

73% of winners saw employee engagement rise;

73% of winners gained extra press coverage;

85% of winners said the impact of winning a Queen’s Award met or exceeded their expectations;

57% of International Trade winners experienced increased recognition overseas.