The most successful businesswomen from across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland have been honoured at the 2021 LeicestershireLive Women in Business Awards.
The event took place at the King Power Stadium, with the winners and guests sharing the same can-do attitude of the football team which is based there.
It was the first time the awards have been hosted since the start of the pandemic and championed the female entrepreneurs, business leaders, sole traders and rising stars that help shape the local economy.
Adam Moss, the Leicester, Coventry and Northants editor for LeicestershireLive parent company Reach plc, said it was good to be back out at physical events.
He said: “We are really proud to support events like this, and I think the enthusiasm of everyone involved shows how much we’ve missed them.
“I know our judges had a tough time picking the winners from such a strong long-list of nominations and I think that is reflected in the quality of all the winners.
“Congratulations to all of them.”
This year’s awards, headline sponsored by Leicester-based employee engagement company Growth Partners Plc, were hosted as usual by television presenter Emma Jesson.
Categories included Entrepreneur of the Year, New Business of the Year and Inspirational Woman of the Year.
The 2021 Businesswoman of the Year Award was presented to Helen Parker, creative director of deVOL kitchens, which is based in the historic Cotes Mill, just outside Loughborough.
The judging panel loved the part she has played in building deVOL up to a £20 million turnover business – with the US worth a further £3 million – providing work for 250 people and with plans for further big expansion in Loughborough.
As well as its Leicestershire bases, this company now has a shop in the fashionable No-Ho district in New York’s Manhattan, along with two showrooms in London’s trendy Clerkenwell.
Helen and the team are currently starring in a fly-on-the-wall series about the business called For the Love of Kitchens, showing on the Discovery channel in both the USA and UK.
It was commissioned by American celebrity home designers Chip and Joanna Gaines after they visited the company’s New York showroom and loved what they saw.
This year’s Lifetime Award winner was Penny Coates, who has held senior positions in some of the East Midlands’ biggest organisations and companies and continues to play a part in the local and wider UK economy.
Between 2005 and 2010 she was managing director of East Midlands Airport, before being promoted to chief operating officer of its parent company the Manchester Airports Group.
Over the years she has been a board member within the Co-op group as well as at the National Space Centre and even Chester Zoo.
More recently she chaired the successful bid to create a Freeport around East Midlands Airport – a campaign which received Government backing at the last Budget.
Those plans will support hundreds of businesses in and around the airport, as well as the Ratcliffe on Soar power station site, which is a due to close in the next few years, and a 5.2 million sq ft business park near Toyota in Derbyshire. All-in-all the Freeport could support 60,000 jobs.
Growth Partners, the event's headline sponsor, is based in Colton Square, Leicester, and provides HR, admin, payroll and pensions support to growing businesses, giving them the same sorts of benefits and services that help much bigger businesses prosper.
Claire Antony, its HR business partner, said diversity in business was “essential”, and the team was proud to be recognising the achievements of businesswomen in the local area.
