FINALISTS FOR THE FRANCHISEE OF THE YEAR AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Celebrating stories of business excellence across the length and breadth of the UK, the British Franchise Association awards commemorate their 25th anniversary in 2014 with a record number of entrants.

All four constituent countries of the UK are represented, with franchisees from a wide spectrum of brands operating across customer and business service industries.

Split into six categories, the overall winner will take home £10,000, while each category winner receives £1,000, courtesy of HSBC.

The finalists are:

Customer Service Franchisee of the Year
Joggy Dhillon, Domino’s Pizza Coleraine & Omagh.
Nathan Holmes, Revive! Cambridge.
Richard McConnell, The ZipYard Altrincham & Wilmslow.

Female Franchisee of the Year
Diane Maxwell, Driver Hire Belfast.
Rachel Shaw, Subway West Wickham & Thornton Heath.
Joyce Batten, Tutor Doctor Bromley.

Young Franchisee of the Year (aged 30 or under)
Aaron Stewart, Marston’s Sheffield.
Phylly Jones, Pyjama Drama North Surrey.
Matthew Woodall,Revive! Bath.

Micro-Business Franchisee of the Year (less than £100,000 turnover)
Tina Young, Barking Mad Northumberland.
Matthew May, Ed’s Garden Maintenance Folkestone.
Andrew Smith, Little Kickers South Lancashire.

Business To Business Franchisee of the Year
Frank Sutherland, Autosmart Aberdeen.
Nick Barber, Minster Cleaning Services Northamptonshire.
Jayne Gethin, ServiceMaster Clean South West Wales.

Olderpreneur Franchisee of the Year (aged 55 or older)
Terry Lucking, Belvoir Lettings Peterborough.
Charles Folkes, Caremark Redcar & Cleveland.
Charles Trevor-Roper, No Letting Go West Berkshire.
Nihal Samarasekara, O2 Hove & surroundings.

Brian Smart, the bfa’s director general, says: “The selection process becomes more difficult each time we hold these awards and making this shortlist is a great achievement in itself, particularly this year following an unprecedented number of entries.

“This is a celebration of 19 local business owners from across the UK who have demonstrated outstanding entrepreneurialism, passion and dedication.

“With the support that ethical franchising brings, they’ve forged extremely impressive businesses.

“Choosing our winners shall be very difficult indeed.”
Joining regular judges Brian Smart, Cathryn Hayes of HSBC and Sean Hammond of Express Newspapers as this year’s guest judges are Suzie McCafferty, managing director of franchise consultancy Platinum Wave, and Adrian Price of chartered accountants Menzies.

Finalists will present to a judging panel on July 16-17, with winners crowned at a black tie dinner hosted by BBC presenter Steph McGovern on October 2 at Birmingham Town Hall.