Chester’s brightest business brains were celebrated during a glittering awards ceremony in the city.
Two schoolboys aged 13, a 17-year-old college student, and an entrepreneur who launched her business while studying at Chester University all walked away with gongs.
They were honoured at the inaugural Chester Business Club Young Person Business Awards, held on July 7.
During a ceremony which took place at the Slowboat Restaurant after the Chester Business Club’s Annual General Meeting, the winners were all described as “the true future of the city”.
Nick Owens, a member of the CBC’s executive council, who created the awards said: “Judges were absolutely blown away by the standard of entries. Trying to pick winners was such a huge challenge for the judging panel because all of the shortlisted candidates were simply incredible. It’s clear to me the true winner of these inaugural awards is Chester. Our future is in safe hands.”
The Awards were divided into two categories, the Vision Award and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year.
Applicants for the Vision Award were asked to come up with an idea for a new business in the city, and explain how they’d make it happen.
Alex Edge and Freddie Leslie, 13, from Kings School won after developing an idea for a new e-commerce platform helping local creatives to sell their products. Judges were wowed by the work the pair had already put into their vision. Tayla Aspden, 17, from Queens Park High School, also won with her idea of creating a new cafe for students in the city, based on the increasingly popular learning space within Chester’s Storyhouse building. Judges praised Tayla for clearly identifying a gap in the market and for finding a vacant building to run the cafe from.
Shortlisted applicants Faith Chesters and Holly Davies, both from Cheshire College South and West, and Matthew McGoldrick from Kings School, were all commended for their work.
Keren Isaiah, 23, won the Young Entrepreneur Of The Year prize in what judges described as a “hugely competitive shortlist”.
Keren’s entrepreneurial journey began as a second-year medical student at Chester University, when she founded Kairos Unlimited, a vending machine business. It is the first business of its kind in the UK, offering foods, snacks, beauty items, and even free sanitary towels and hair care products. What started as a single vending machine at her university has rapidly expanded. The company is now in talks with multiple universities across the UK, and her ultimate goal is to scale the business globally.
Judges also heaped praise on the other shortlisted candidates Fernando Rutter from PropertyPAC and DigiPAC, Solomon Meredith from SOLM Property and Jack Green from Thrive Studio.
Winners walked away with a trophy, certificate, hundreds of pounds to spend in Chester Bid Vouchers and access to mentoring support with the Chester Business Club.
The event was sponsored by Magnify PR, Aqueous Digital, DEESURVEYS and Fly High Media. Fundraising events on the night raised £1,800 for good causes.
Young Entrepreneur Of The Year: Keren Isaiah with Nick Owens, Magnify PR, sponsor of the Award.
Keren Isaiah with Gavin Floyd, chair of the Chester Business Club
Keren Isaiah Collects her award:
Vision Award winner, Tayla Aspden with Jonathan Guy, Aqueous Digital who sponsored the Awards.
Vision Award Winner Freddie Leslie, with Matthew Pyke, Fly High Media who sponsored the event.
Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Shortlist: Fernando Rutter, Keren Isaiah, Solomon Meredith, Jack Green.
Vision Award shortlisted:
Matthew McGoldrick, Holly Davies, Faith Chesters, Tayla Aspden, Freddie Leslie.
Image credit Andrew Price
