New Media Entrepreneur Completes Hat-Trick With British Business Oscar

December 3, 2007; 04:02 AM
Leading new media entrepreneur Steve Leach of bigmouthmedia last night triumphed at the UK's most prestigious business awards. Crowned Entrepreneur of the Year at the Growing Business Awards, the success capped a remarkable year and a hat-trick of successes for the founder of Europe's largest digital marketing agency.

Dubbed "The business equivalent of the Oscars" by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, an A-list of Britain's top entrepreneurs gathered for the London ceremony to see the bigmouthmedia CEO beat off stiff competition from a shortlist that included the country's hottest business talents.

The judging panel - organised independently by Real Business and the CBI - chose Leach over property tycoon Grant Bovey, Michael Cleary of 1st Credit, Loewy's Charlie Hoult and David Pollock of Chess. Previous award winners include Richard Caudwell, Richard Branson, James Dyson and Philip Green.

With a unanimous decision from the judges they commented "The scale of Steve¹s achievement to date, as well as his commanding knowledge of an emerging sector, massively impressed the judges. Here is a man whose formidable track record to date could be just the starting point."

Speaking after his win, Leach commented "This is fantastic. To win one award was a real triumph for the bigmouth team, but to complete the hat-trick is incredible. It's also great to see the vibrant Scottish business scene getting the recognition it deserves."

The win completes a remarkable hat-trick for Leach, earlier this month he secured the coveted Entrepreneur of the Year title at the National Business Awards and the National Business Awards for Scotland in the same category in September.