A YOUNG gardener who set up his business at the age of 16 has won a regional award for his efforts.
Alfie Jones from Royal Wootton Bassett has been hailed as the South West Young Entrepreneur of the Year after emerging triumphant at the Federation of Small Business's awards ceremony.
He started The Back Yard Barber two years ago after his GCSE exams were cancelled then went on to impress London business professionals who decided to invest in his start-up last year.
To keep up with heigh demand, he has recruited more people to his team and bought a van.
This latest accolade shows his business continues go from strength to strength.
He said: “Winning this award sets in stone that maybe I am doing something right and I’m not just a boy mowing lawns! It's great that other professionals have had a look at what I do and can see that I'm getting somewhere."
Altogether, five businesses from Wiltshire made the hotly-contested shortlist for the biggest awards contest for small businesses in the region, the FSB South West Small Business Awards.
Along with Alfie, Swindon firms Woodward Financials Limited and Eco Camping Limited nominated The Beauty Hut Ltd of Trowbridge and Blue Bee of Salisbury received nominations for different categories.
Although none of the county’s other nominees won their category titles, the FSB’s South West regional chairman Lee Nathan said that even making the shortlist was an impressive achievement due to the quality and quantity of this year’s entry.
He added: “We were delighted to discover that we had a record amount of entries this year with so many small businesses telling us of their triumph against all the odds. I know that the judges found even getting down to a shortlist was a major headache - let alone trying to pick a category winner.
“What this all says, I think, is what we all probably knew – the South West is an absolute hotbed of entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity and small business expertise.”
The FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards launched in 2017 and aimed to take a fresh approach to awards by celebrating the best of the UK’s thriving small business sector at both regional and national levels.
Combined with the awards is an ambitious programme of business seminars and events. For more information, visit www.fsbawards.co.uk
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