More than 200 companies have been honoured with Queen's Awards for Enterprise - which this year have focused on firms helping the disadvantaged in their communities.
Some 205 businesses from across the 海角视频 have this year been honoured by the Queen, across four categories: Innovation, International Trade, Sustainable Development, and Promoting Opportunity (through social mobility).
That includes 18 firms winning awards in the Promoting Opportunity category - including a 173-year-old mattress making company in Aberdeen and Hull-based construction and retail specialist Sewell Group, as well as London social enterprise bakery Luminary.
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Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The past year has been a tough time for many businesses across the 海角视频, which is why it is more important than ever to celebrate the achievements of our wealth creators and recognise the contributions they make to our communities.
“In the last 12 months, British businesses showed the entrepreneurial spirit that this country is renowned for, continuing to drive social mobility, find new markets to export to and produce innovative products and services.
“I congratulate this year’s winners and I wish every business that applied for an award this year every success in the future as we build back better from the pandemic.”
The Queen's Awards were created after the recommendation of a committee chaired by The Duke of Edinburgh in 1965. The first honours, then known as the Queen’s Awards to Industry, were given out the following year.
Winners have been sharing their reactions with BusinessLive reporters across the country.
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Dr Paul Sewell OBE, chairman of The Sewell Group in Hull, said today: “To receive this award from Her Majesty the Queen is a huge honour and I’m incredibly proud of our teams. Promoting opportunity is exactly what we’re about and what we do as a company; we’re successful because we provide opportunities, both within the company and the community.”
Queen's Awards 2021
Leicester-based Lakshmi & Sons, trading as Cofresh Snack Foods, won the Queen's Award for International Trade.
Managing director Priyesh Patel said: “Our success hasn’t happened overnight – this is a culmination of years of hard work and I’m incredibly proud of what our team has managed to achieve.
Cheltenham-based robotics firm ALS Mechatronic won a Queen's Award for International Trade.
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Its founder and managing director Andrew Steward said: “It is an honour to have our company recognised with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise and following a year that has created untold damage to many companies due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Against the odds, we have managed to maintain support and continue delivery of solutions to our international customer base, as well as at home - ranging from dairies to pharmaceutical companies."